Artificial cloning- plants

• micropropagation= process of making large numbers of genetically identical offspring from a single parent plant using tissue culture.
• Why use micropropagation

  • When seeds aren't easily produced
  • Doesn't respond well to natural cloning
  • Rare plant
  • Genetically modifies
  • Must be pathogen free for growers.
• Tissue culture

  1. Excise plant tissue, often from meristem from shoot tips.
  2. Sterilisation (bleach, ethanol, sodium dichloroisocyanuiate, which doesn't need to be rinsed off) sterile conditions to avoid contamination by bacteria and fungus.
  3. Callus formation= explant placed in sterile culture medium, containing plant hormones (auxins, cytokines to stimulate mitosis) growing into a callus.
  4. Plantlet formation= cells from callus are transferred to a new culture with plant hormones to stimulate growth of shoots and roots.
  5. Plantlets plotted to grow into small plants then into crops.
• Advantages

  • Rapid production
  • Genetically identical
  • Disease free
  • All new GM plants will have desired characteristics
  • Can grow infertile crops
  • Can produce plants difficult to grow using seeds
  • Increase numbers of rare/endangered crops.
• Disadvantages

  • Monoculture, susceptible to same diseases
  • Expensive, skill required
  • Expants and plantlets vulnerable to infection
  • Infection of source material infects all.