In fact, plant cloning is much easier than we can imagine. The simpler structure of plants compared to animals allows for the cloning of samples not only in the laboratory, but also at home. Unlike higher animals, which in nature reproduce only sexually, plants, in addition to sexual reproduction, are characterized by vegetative reproduction. Vegetative reproduction is one of the types of asexual reproduction. In plants, it is characterized by the separation from the mother of the daughters - rhizomes, shoots, bulbs, tubers, etc.
Cloning. Home
We all know about successful animal cloning. In 1996, Dolly the sheep was born, which was an exact copy of its predecessor. This event was a turning point both in the scientific community and in popular culture. Scientists and the media have been concerned about the possibility of human or larger animal cloning. Everyone forgot about plant cloning - it's not so interesting and new. But even the very word "clone" withAncient Greek translates as "shoot, twig, offspring", which undoubtedly indicates the early development of plants as an object of cloning for breeding purposes.
Asexual reproduction of plants is a natural process
As we have already said, plants are characterized by both asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction. Any gardener and gardener with his own hands at least once cloned the most successful samples of a tomato, apple tree, garden flowers, etc. To clone plantings at home, it is enough to take living and he althy cells of a flower, bush or tree (leaf, shoot, root, cutting etc.) and create the right conditions for them to grow. After some time, we will get an adult plant, genetically no different from the mother. Typically, apical meristem cells (that is, cells located at the tops of the shoots of the plant and at the ends of its roots) are taken from plants to create a clone. These cells carry out the formation of all organs of the plant, therefore, when cloned with their help, a new plant individual develops much faster.
Pros and cons of plant cloning
Increasing the number of plants through cloning has both advantages and disadvantages. For cloning, we select samples with the highest quality characteristics. For example, we will select the tendrils of those strawberry bushes on which the largest and sweetest berry ripens. Or choose the bulbs of the brightest and most cold-resistant tulips. Each summer resident can give many examples of plant cloning in his garden. howPractice has proven that a population of plants grown using cloning is much cleaner and more prolific than a population grown from seeds. But there are also dark sides to cloning, which often compromise the quality of clones.
Disadvantages of cloning
The main problem of creating clones is that when cloning one or even several plants, the genetic code is greatly depleted. It is not for nothing that nature has given us genetic diversity in everything - it helps living organisms to survive and undergo important changes from generation to generation. Plants obtained as a result of cloning are completely unadapted to wild living conditions. After all, all individuals have the same genetic code, which means that in nature they are programmed to behave in the same way. For example, one strain of a disease can kill them, when plants with different genetics would perceive it differently.
Spoiled clones
The closer to laboratory conditions the cloning process is, the more difficult it is to eventually transplant clones into open ground and make them grow on their own. Developing under ideal conditions, specimens only learn to consume. Plants do not know how to produce enough oxygen or take care of themselves. Therefore, it is important from time to time to give seedlings the opportunity to be in more wild and non-greenhouse conditions, so that the seedlings develop the skills necessary for independent existence.
Suitable development environmentclones
In order for clones from the apical meristem to grow as he althy as possible, they must be placed in an environment rich in nutrients. Also, plants need to provide optimal lighting, humidity and air temperature. Cloned samples are especially sensitive to all the nuances of the environment. Usually, special nutrient solutions are used at the initial stage of cloning. They are sold in a wide range of stores. Of these drugs, which help to grow a cloned plant faster, a root formation stimulator is isolated. The juveniles are then placed in soil rich in beneficial bacteria and fertilizers.
Cloning by cuttings
How to clone the right plant at home? There is a huge variety of nuances of plant propagation by cuttings. We will only note the main rules for cultivating in this way.
First stage
At the first stage of cloning plants from the mother plant, you need to separate the stalk of your choice. For this, a small sharp cutting object is suitable - nail scissors, a razor blade, a small knife, etc. The object chosen for circumcision must be disinfected with alcohol so that bacteria do not get into the cutting cut.
The cut must be made on young he althy shoots with the same young green foliage. Cuttings are cut from the lower branches of the plant - they take root faster. The cutting should be 10-20 centimeters long and cut at a 45-degree angle exactly where it joins the shoot. Immediately after cutting the cuttingshould be in a container of water with an acidity level of 5, 8-6, 2 in order to stop the healing of the cut, prevent infection with harmful bacteria, and, of course, provide the plant with the necessary moisture.
Second stage
At the second stage of plant cloning, their rooting begins - that is, the formation of roots. To make the roots thicker and stronger, all the leaves are cut off from the cutting. The slice is updated as needed. You can leave the plant in plain water and wait for the roots to germinate, but it is better to use a homemade or purchased root activator.
From non-factory root growth activators, acids can be used: indolylacetic, indolylbutyric, naphthylacetic, succinic and potassium permanganate. Of the safe root formers, simple honey is known, in which the cut must be dipped, as well as aloe juice. An overdose of growth activators should not be allowed - from this the plant may stop developing and even die.
Microclimate
The humidity level during the development of clones should be at least 80%, since until the roots have developed, the cuttings receive moisture from the air. The temperature in the room with seedlings should be at least 23 degrees, and sometimes more than 25.
Lighting
During rooting, clones need very bright light. To supply light, neon fluorescent lamps are used. Fluorescent or energy saving. The larger the light spectrum of the lamp, the better. Some breedersuse red and blue lamps, the light of which is dim, but also useful to plants. The lamps will not work all day long. The light mode must be set to 18/6 or 16/8. Plants need to sleep too.
Plant micropropagation
Because cutting cloning has its disadvantages, breeding advances have led us to the concept of micropropagation of plants. Propagation of plants by cuttings shows itself better with small populations in private gardening. In the scientific environment, with standard plant cloning, scientists have encountered some problems:
- Coniferous and some deciduous trees (for example, oak), as well as nut trees, are difficult to propagate by cuttings.
- Through cuttings, many species of trees over 10-15 years old practically do not reproduce.
- It is not always possible to obtain standard material for planting, since cuttings cloning is highly likely to infect clones.
- It is difficult to propagate mature woody plants by grafting.
Benefits of plant microcloning
Microclonal propagation of plants has a number of advantages that cannot be achieved by cloning samples in the usual way - cuttings. Many gardeners are now beginning to become interested in microbiology and are purchasing materials and devices necessary for microcloning. On the one hand, the yield of plants obtained by cell cloning is much superior in quality tocrop grown from cuttings:
- The planting material is genetically homogeneous - this can be both a plus and a minus.
- Use virus-free planting material as microcloning uses meristem cells.
- High ability of reproduction of any kinds of plants. Even conifers.
- It takes less time to develop new and improved plant varieties.
- The plant moves from the juvenile phase to the reproductive phase faster.
- Micropropagation of plants can take place all year round in special facilities.
- Seedlings obtained in this way take up less space than cuttings.
Steps of plant microcloning
There are only five of them:
- Under a microscope under sterile conditions, a small amount of meristem is plucked from the plant. This is called taking a sample for cloning. All the tissues and organs of the future clone will appear from the meristem in the future.
- Further, the meristem tissue is treated in the same way as with the cutting - the cut is disinfected and the sample is placed in a nutrient medium.
- When the plant reaches the microcopy phase, cuttings are again cut from it under a microscope and each is placed in a nutrient solution. Then a microplant grows from each cutting. Cuttings are again taken from it and microcopies are grown from them. This continues an unlimited number of times until the required number of clones is formed.
- Grown plants are planted in special plants to prepare for outdoor living conditions.
- Mature plantstransplanted into a greenhouse and prepared for planting in open soil.
