cloning plants

• natural cloning is also known as vegetative propagation
• plants naturally clone themselves using the plant's meristems at the plant tips
• a runner is a plant stem that grows away and into a new shoot producing a plantlet that's connected to the original plant
• a rhizome is a root that grows away and then grows up to form new shoot producing another plant
• tubers are swollen underground regions of stems that bud and sprout to grow new clones
• bulbs are underground stems that are covered by layers of leaves and buds grown in between these layers in the bulb and then develop into clones
• artificial method of cloning: cutting (method)

  1. a part of the stem is cut
  2. cut stem is dipped into growth hormones (auxins)
  3. plant is put in soil and covered in a plastic bag to create a warm and moist environment for better growth
• benefits of cutting:

  No expensive equipment

  Easy

  faster than growing from seeds

  
  

  Disadvantages:

  Limited number of clones can be produced from one plant

  clones can be wiped out by one disease or a change in the environment

  Some plants do not respond well
• Artificial cloning: micropropagation

  1. Meristem tissue extracted containing totipotent cells (sample collected is called explant)
  2. the sample is sterilised to reduce chances of contamination
  3. placed in a sterile solution of growth hormone and form a clump of cell called a callus
  4. callus is then divided up and each group of cells placed in solutions with hormones and nutrients
  5. new cells form plantlets which are then potted
• Advantages of micropropagation:

  Rapidly produces a large number of clones

  Grow plants that a difficult to grow from seeds

  Plants can be grown from anytime of the year

  Disadvantages:

  clones can still die off to a single disease or change in environment

  expensive method

  requires more skill
• what are the 4 natural methods of plants cloning themselves?

  runners, rhizomes, tubers, and bulbs.