natural cloning in plants

• define what is meant by biotechnology

  industrial use of living organisms (or parts of living organisms) to produce food, drugs or other product
• what is asexual reproduction?

  • form of cloning
  • results in clones produced by mitosis which are genetically identical to the parent and each other
• what is natural cloning in plants known as?

  vegetative propagation
• what is a perennating organ?

  • means of asexual reproduction
  • A structure that allows a plant to survive adverse conditions and resume growth when conditions improve.
  • contain stored food from photosynthesis and can remain dormant in the soil
• state the different types/forms of vegetative propagation

  • bulbs- leaf bases swell with stored food from photosynthesis
  • runners - (strawberry plants) lateral stem growing away from parent plant, roots develop where runner touches the ground
  • rhizomes- specialised horizontal stem running underground, swollen with stored food
  • stem tubers- tip of underground stem becomes swollen with food to become tuber/storage organ

  BOBBY

  RUNS

  REALLY

  SLOW
• what is horticulture?

  where natural plant cloning is exploited by farmers to produce genetically identical plants, for example, cuttings to which rooting powder is applied
• describe how to clone a plant by taking a cutting (PPQ) (4mks)

  • cells taken from healthy shoot
  • cut stem at an angle between nodes with sharp blade
  • use rooting powder/plant hormone
  • place it in soil and water
  • cover with plastic bag and remove leaves to reduce transpiration
  • sterilise the cutting
• what variables need to be controlled when performing a cloning process?

  • temperature
  • same type of soil
  • same light intensity
  • nutrient levels
• advantages of propagation from cuttings?

  • faster- time from planting to cropping is reduced
  • offspring genetically identical so will crop well if produced from good crop
  • naturally infertile plants can grow
  • larger number of rare plants
• disadvantages of propagation from cuttings?

  • lack of genetic variation
  • expensive and requires professionals
  • if source materials become infected all new plants are infected
• what is vegetative propagation?

  a form of natural cloning where a fully differentiated plant forms from part of a parent plant's structure, which is genetically identical to the parent