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Many plants clone themselves
naturally to reproduce. They
send a small shoot-like
structure, called a runner,
along the soil. The runner
grows into a new separate
plant that is genetically
identical to the original
plant. In other words, it is
a clone.
People can clone plants
by simply taking a cutting
of the plant such as a twig
or stem and planting it.
This is called vegetative
propagation.
Horticulturists use
cloning to grow plants with
specific qualities, like
height, flower colour and
quality. They use a more
complex method than
vegetative propagation
called tissue culture.
Tissue culture starts by
using a small piece of the
desired plant such as a bud,
node, leaf segment or root
segment. It is grown in a
test tube on a culture
medium that provides
nutrients.
It is then chemically
treated to produce shoots.
Buds from each of these
shoots can then be separated
to grow more shoots, and the
shoots are then treated to
grow roots so that they
develop into whole plants.
All the plants produced
in this way are genetically
identical because they have
all come from the same plant
initially and so share that
plant’s genetic make up.
Plant tissue culture in the
classroom - work sheet [PDF
55kb | 5 pages] |
