Flashcards · Biology · Selective Breeding and Genetic Engineering
Tissue Culture
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What is tissue culture?
Growing cells or tissues in a sterile dish, with nutrients.
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What is an explant?
A small piece of tissue taken from a plant for culture.
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Why are the tools and dishes sterile?
Microorganisms would grow faster than the cells and spoil the culture.
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What does the agar contain?
Nutrients and plant hormones.
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What is a callus?
A mass of undifferentiated cells.
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What forms after the callus?
Shoots and roots, making plantlets.
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Are plants made by tissue culture identical?
Yes. They are clones.
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Why can tissue culture give disease-free plants?
Cells at the shoot tip are often free of viruses.
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Give one use of tissue culture in plant breeding.
Making many copies of a plant with a useful feature, or growing GM plants.
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How does tissue culture help rare species?
It can produce many plants from a small sample, without harming wild populations.
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Give one use in medical research.
Testing drugs on cultured cells, or growing cancer cells to study them.
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Give a disadvantage of tissue culture.
It is expensive, and the clones have no variation.
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Why can tissue culture be done at any time of the year?
It is done in the lab, with controlled conditions.
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Give an example of cultured cells being used to treat patients.
Skin cells grown to make skin grafts.
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What is the main danger in tissue culture?
Contamination by microorganisms.
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Common mistake about tissue culture?
Saying the plants are different. They are clones, and so are genetically identical.