Question

What is micropropagation?

Answer 1

Hint:- There are many artificial methods for vegetative reproduction like layering, grafting, stem cutting, tissue culture, etc. Using micropropagation, plants with the same genetic constitution can be produced by cloning. Large numbers of offsprings can be produced within a limited period. It is economically more significant and effective than the traditional propagation methods.

Complete Answer:- Micropropagation is the method of producing many progeny plants by tissue culture techniques. It is the method of producing clones, which are genetically identical to the parent plant. It is based on the totipotency of plants. Totipotency is the ability of a plant cell to develop into an entire organism. Multiple clones can be produced from a single plant.
There are several steps in micropropagation.
Selection of plants with the desired characters.
Separation or removal of the explants from the parent plant. The cells, tissues, or organs removed from the parent plant for tissue culturing are called an explant.
Explants are placed in a petri dish with nutrients.
More explants are removed and grown in greenhouses or compost. There are different types of micropropagation such as meristem culture, anther culture, and embryo culture.
In shoot tip or meristem culture, meristematic tissues are used for propagation. It is used to produce virus-free plants from a virus-infected plant. Meristematic cells are involved in the process of division and they lack many enzymes that are necessary for viruses so there will be no virus infection in the meristematic region.
In anther culture, the anther is cultured and the haploid pollen grains develop into haploid plants called androgenic haploids. Such haploid plants can be made into homozygous diploid plants by using certain chemicals. It is used to produce pure homozygous diploid plants for hybridization purposes.
In many intergeneric and interspecific hybrids, the hybrid embryos are not viable. In such cases, the embryos are dissected out of the ovary and cultured to save the embryo. This is an embryo culture.

Note:- The father of plant tissue culture is Haberlandt. Another culture was first done by Guha and Maheshwari. The undifferentiated mass of cells formed during tissue culture is called the callus. Embryo-like structures formed during tissue culture are called embryoids. Embryoids are coated with algin to produce artificial seeds. If proper conditions are provided, such seeds germinate to produce seedlings.