Micropropagation
- Tissue culture is a process in which very small ('micro') pieces of plants (‘tissue’) are grown (‘cultured’) using nutrient media
- Because they are initially grown in petri dishes on nutrient agar we say they are grown ‘in vitro’ – outside a living organism
- How to micro propagate plants in vitro:
- Cells are scraped from the parent plant (these cells are known as explants)
- The surface of the explants are sterilised using a disinfectant followed by a rinse with sterile water
- Sterilised explants are transferred to a sterile petri dish containing sterile nutrient agar
- The growth medium encourages the explant cells to grow and divide into small masses of cells (known as a callus)
- Each callus is transferred to a fresh growth medium that contains a range of plant growth regulators (hormones). The presence of these hormones causes the callus to develop roots, stems and leaves, forming a plantlet
- Plantlets can be transferred to individual potting trays and develop into plants
The steps of micropropagation
