5.4.1 Micropropagation

Question 1

What are clones

Answer 1

Clones are genetically identical individuals

Question 2

The cloning of plants has many important, what?

Answer 2

commercial uses

Question 3

Cloning allows a variety of plant with desirable characteristics to be produced:

Answer 3

Cheaply

With a greater yield (a large number of plants can be produced per square metre)

Quickly (the plantlets are ready to grow into mature plants)

At any time of the year

Identical to each other (so they retain the desired characteristic)

Disease-free or resistant plants can be bred

Question 4

What does closing also ensure?

Answer 4

diseases prevalent in other areas of the world are not imported and spread by ensuring native varieties of plants are produced in large enough quantities to supply demand in one country without importing plants from abroad

Question 5

Tissue culture can also be an important process in, what?

Answer 5

preserving rare plant species

Question 6

There are a number of drawbacks to using micropropagation, what are they?

Answer 6

Trained personnel and a sterile laboratory are required

All the plants produced are genetically identical and so will all be vulnerable to the same diseases and pests (the lack of genetic variation makes them less able to adapt to environmental change)

Question 7

What is Tissue Culture

Answer 7

Tissue culture is a process in which very small (‘micro’) pieces of plants (‘tissue’) are grown (‘cultured’) using nutrient media

Question 8

Because they are initially grown in petri dishes on nutrient agar we say they are grown, what?

Answer 8

‘in vitro’ – outside a living organism

Question 9

Give the 6 steps of how to micro propagate plants in vitro

Answer 9

1. Cells are scraped from the parent plant (these cells are known as explants)