Consider the following statements regarding Tissue culture.

1. The capacity to generate a whole plant from any cell/explant is called micropropagation.

2. The method of producing thousands of plants through tissue culture is called totipotency.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

The correct answer is Neither 1 nor 2.

Key Points

Tissue culture:

• It was learned by scientists, during the 1950s, that whole plants could be regenerated from explants, i.e., any part of a plant taken out and grown in a test tube, under sterile conditions in special nutrient media.
• This capacity to generate a whole plant from any cell/explant is called totipotency. Hence, Statement 2 is incorrect.
• It is important to stress here that the nutrient medium must provide a carbon source such as sucrose and also inorganic salts, vitamins, amino acids, and growth regulators like auxins, cytokinins, etc.
• By application of these methods, it is possible to achieve propagation of a large number of plants in very short durations.
• This method of producing thousands of plants through tissue culture is called micropropagation. Hence, Statement 1 is incorrect.
  • Each of these plants will be genetically identical to the original plant from which they were grown, i.e. they are some clones.
  • Many important food plants like tomato, banana, apple, etc. have been produced on a commercial scale using this method.
• Another important application of the method is the recovery of healthy plants from diseased plants.
  • Even if the plant is infected with a virus, the meristem (apical and axillary) is free of virus.
  • Hence, one can remove the meristem and grow it in vitro to obtain virus-free plants.
  • Scientists have succeeded in culturing meristems of banana, sugarcane, potato, etc.