It is easier to culture plant cells in vitro as compared to animal cells. Why?
It is easier to culture the plant cells in vitro as compared to animal cells because, the plant cells have the property to grow into a new plant. This property of plant cell is termed as totipotency. This ability is limited in animal cells.
The culture medium (nutrient medium) can be referred to as a 'highly enriched laboratory soil'. Justify the statement.
Culture medium is a highly enriched laboratory soil as it provides all the necessary requirements, e.g., carbon source such as sucrose and inorganic salts, vitamins, amino acids and growth regulators like auxins and cytokinins, etc., to the growing plant.
Is there any relationship between dedifferentiation and the higher degree of success achieved in plant tissue culture experiments?
Yes, When a cell dedifferentiates once, it gets regressed back to its embryonic stage and then can again differentiate into any form of tissue. So, the plant tissue culture can be more successful as any kind of tissue can be produced even from differentiated cells.
Give me a living cell of any plant and I will give you a thousand plants of the same type", Is this only a slogan or is it scientifically possible? Write your comments and justify them.
It is scientifically possible to grow thousand plants from a living cell of any plant and this process is called micropropagation. The property of plant cells that helped them to grow into a new plant is totipotency.
Micropropagation is the use of plant cell culture to regenerate large number of plants. This results in genetically identical plants and is also called clonal propagation.
Hence, the desirable characters are kept constant for many generations. Micropropagation is widely used in forestry and in floriculture. Plants can be obtained throughout the year under controlled conditions.
What is the difference between a breed and a species? Give an example for each category.
A breed is a specific group of animals or plants having homogenous appearance, behaviour and other characteristics that distinguish it from other animals or plants of the same species, e.g., Afghan shepherd, American bulldog are breeds of dog.
Species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. It can be defined as the largest group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. e.g., lion, cow, dog are species.