Cloning plants

Whats vegetative propagation?

A method of natural cloning, in which plants use meristem tissue to produce genetically identical offspring

Whats a plantlet?

A miniature plant which can grow from areas of meristem tissue, from which it detaches once it can survive on its own

What are the four methods of natural cloning in plants

runners, tubers, bulbs and rhizomes

What are runners?

horisontal stems

What are tubers

swollen, underground bits of stem which form buds which develop into clones

What are bulbs?

underground stem which is enclosed in layers of leaves

How do bulbs work?

buds form between leaf layers and form into clones

Whats a Rhizome?

Underground horizontal stems

Whats cutting?

A technique used to encourage plants to naturally clone

What are the three steps of cutting?

1. removing a bit of the plant stem

2. dipping the cut stem into growth hormone

3. plant the cutting into soil and cover with a bag to form a moist environment

What are the advantages of cutting?

1. no expensive equipment

2. doesn’t require much skills

3. quicker than growing plants from seeds

What are the limitations of cutting?

1. genetically identical clones produced so can all be killed off by one disease or environmental change

2. limited number of clones produced from one plant

3. some plants don’t respond well to natural cloning

Whats micropropagation?

A method of artificial plant cloning

Whats then first step of micropropagation?

cut off an explant containing totipotent cells

Whats an explant?

A cut off sample from the plant containing totipotent cells

Whats the second step in micropropagation?

sterilise the explant

Whats the third step of micropropagation?

place the explant in a sterile liquid with growth hormones, which wills stimulate the plant to undergo mitosis

Whats a callus?

A mass of cells created by the explant in growth hormones as it undergoes mitosis

Whats the fourth step of micropropagation?

taking cells from the callus and placing them into liquids containing hormones and nutrients

Whats the fifth step in micropropagation?

taking the platelets which have formed and planting them in soil

What are the strengths of micropropagation?

rapidly produces a large number of clones, used to grow plants which are hard to grow from seeds and means plants can be grown year round

What are the limitations of micropropagation?

clones can be killed by one disease or environmental change, expensive and requires skill