Читать книгу Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding - George Acquaah - Страница 343

Plants reproduce sexually or asexually. Clones are identical copies of a genotype, derived from somatic tissue or cells of the source plant. Together, they are phenotypically homogeneous, since they all originate from the same source plant either in one or more clonal generations of reproduction. However, individually, they are highly heterozygous. Clonally propagated plants produce genetically identical progeny. Pieces of plant parts (leaf, stem, roots, tubers) can be used to grow full plants in the soil. In vitro (growing plants under sterile conditions) plant culture was first proposed in the early 1900s. By 1930s, cell culture had been accomplished. Each cell in a multicellular organism is theoretically totipotent (i.e. endowed with the full complement of genes to direct the development of the cell into a full organism). In theory, a cell can be taken from a root, leaf, or stem, and cultured in vitro into a complete plant.