22.2 Artificial cloning in plants Flashcards
what property of plants has allowed scientists to artificially clone plants?
most plant cells are totipotent
can differentiate into all types of cells in a plant
what is micropropagation?
process of making large numbers of genetically identical offspring from a single parent plant
what are reasons to do micropropagation?
- when a plant doesn’t readily produce seeds
- when a plant is rare
- when a plant is genetically modified
- when you want to produce ‘pathogen-free’ plants
first step of micropropagation?
tissue taken from the plant you want to clone
it is cut in a sterile environment to ensure the tissue is virus-free
second step of micropropagation?
sample is sterilised using an agent such as ethanol
what is the term for a section of a plant removed from the plant?
the explant
third step of micropropagation?
explant placed in sterile culture medium which contains organic nutrients and plant hormones which stimulate mitosis
the cells then proliferate to produce a callus (mass clump of cells)
fourth step of micropropagation?
callus divides into individual cells and transferred to a new culture medium with different plant hormones
this stimulates the development of genetically identical plantlets
fifth step of micropropagation?
the plantlets are potted into compost/soil and grown into small plants
final step of micropropagation?
these small plants are then grown into a crop
product of micropropagation?
plants which are genetically identical to the original plant
what are the adv of micropropagation?
- improves crop yield
- disease-free plants produced
- seedless plants can be produced
- allows for infertile plants to grown
- increases numbers of rare plants
what are the disv of micropropagation?
- leads to monoculture which makes a plant population more at risk to a single disease or contamination
- its expensive as it requires trained skilled workers
- large amount of plants are lost through the process
