The present review summarizes the factors involved in the process of banana somatic embryogenesis and somaclonal variation during this process. Being a polyploid and vegetatively propagated crop, development of an efficient somatic embryogenesis system is critical for the application of genetic transformation or other biological technologies in genetic improvement of banana. Since the 1980s, considerable progress has been made in understanding and refining somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration in banana, but there are still many bottlenecks that remain to be overcome. The low induction percentage of embryogenic callus is the major limitation in the process of somatic embryogenesis in banana. It strongly depends on genotype/cultivar, incubation condition and some other factors. Success rates for the initiation of good quality embryogenic cell suspensions depend largely on the quality of the selected embryogenic calli. The successful establishment of an embryogenic cell suspension in banana also relies on genotype/cultivar. The germination of somatic embryos into plants is not very efficient and needs to be further improved. This step is also highly variable and found to be affected by genotype/cultivar, regeneration system, and quality of embryogenic cell suspension among other factors. Fortunately, the proportion of somaclonal variants in banana regenerated through somatic embryogenesis obtained from most studies using field tests were low, which suggested that somatic embryogenesis could be used for genetic improvement of banana.
