In fact, plant cloning is much easier than we can imagine. A simpler plant structure than animals allows for cloning of samples not only in laboratory conditions, but also at home. Unlike higher animals, which in nature reproduce only sexually, plants, in addition to sexual reproduction, are characterized by vegetative propagation. Vegetative propagation is one of the types of asexual reproduction. In plants, it is characterized by separation from the maternal individual of the daughter - rhizomes, shoots, bulbs, tubers, etc.
Cloning. Start
We all know about successful animal cloning. In 1996, the Dolly 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 were concerned about the possibility of cloning a person or a larger animal. Everyone forgot about the cloning of plants - because it is not so interesting and new. But even the word “clone” from ancient Greek is translated as “shoot, twig, offspring,” which undoubtedly indicates the early development of plants as a cloning object for breeding purposes.
Asexual reproduction of plants - a natural process
As we have already said, asexual reproduction as well as sexual reproduction are characteristic of plants. Any gardener and gardener with his own hands at least once, but cloned the most successful samples of tomato, apple tree, garden flowers, etc. To clone plantings at home, it is enough to take living and healthy cells of a flower, bush or tree (leaf, shoot, root, cuttings etc.) and create the right conditions for them to grow. After some time, we get an adult plant, genetically no different from the mother. Usually, to create a clone from plants, cells of the apical meristem are taken (that is, cells located at the tops of the shoots of the plant and at the ends of its roots). These cells carry out the formation of all plant organs, therefore, when cloning 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 antennae of those strawberry bushes on which the largest and sweetest berry ripens. Or choose the bulbs of the brightest and cold-resistant tulips. Each summer resident can give many examples of plant cloning in his garden. As practice has shown, the population of plants grown by cloning is much cleaner and more fruitful than the population grown from seeds. But there are also dark sides to cloning, because of which clone quality often suffers.
Cloning disadvantages
The main problem of creating clones is that when cloning one or even several plant individuals, the genetic code is greatly depleted. No wonder nature has given us genetic diversity in everything - it helps living organisms survive and undergo important changes from generation to generation. The plants obtained as a result of cloning are not at all adapted to wild living conditions. After all, all individuals have the same genetic code, which means that in nature they are programmed to behave the same. For example, one strain of the disease can kill them, when plants with different genetics would perceive it differently.
Spoiled Clones
The closer the laboratory process to cloning, the more difficult it is to transplant the clones into the open ground and make them grow on their own. Developing in ideal conditions, the samples learn only to consume. Neither plants can produce enough oxygen, nor take care of themselves. Therefore, it is important from time to time to give seedlings the opportunity to be in more wild and non-green conditions, so that seedlings develop the skills necessary for independent existence.
Suitable environment for the development of clones
For clones from the apical meristem to grow as healthy 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 in a large assortment sold in stores. Of these drugs that help to quickly grow a cloned plant, a root stimulant is isolated. Then, young individuals are placed in a land rich in beneficial bacteria and fertilizers.
Cloning by cuttings
How to clone the right plant at home? There are a lot of nuances of plant propagation by cuttings. We note only the main cultivation rules in this way.
First stage
At the first stage of plant cloning from the mother plant, you need to separate the stalk of your choice. To do this, a small sharp cutting object is suitable - manicure scissors, a razor blade, a small knife, etc. The object selected for circumcision must be disinfected with alcohol so that bacteria do not get into the cut of the handle.
The slice is necessarily done on young healthy shoots with the same young green foliage. Cuttings are cut from the lower branches of the plant - they take root faster. The stalk should be 10-20 centimeters long and cut at an angle of 45 degrees exactly at the point of its connection with the shoot. Immediately after trimming, the stalk should be in a container with water with an acid level of 5.8-6.2 in order to stop the healing of the section, prevent infection by harmful bacteria, and, of course, provide the plant with the necessary moisture.
Second phase
At the second stage of plant cloning, their rooting begins - that is, the formation of roots. To make the roots thicker and stronger, all leaves are cut off from the stalk. The slice is updated as needed. You can leave the plant in plain water and wait for root sprouting, but it is better to use a home-made or purchased root formation activator.
Of non-factory root growth activators, you can use acids: indolylacetic, indolylbutyric, naphthylacetic, succinic and potassium permanganate. Of the safe rooting agents, simple honey is known, in which you need to dip a slice, as well as aloe juice. An overdose of growth activators should not be allowed - from this, the plant can 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 lighting. Neon fluorescent lamps are used to supply light. Fluorescent or energy saving. The larger the light spectrum the lamp will have, the better. Some breeders use red and blue lamps, whose light is dim, but also useful to plants. Lamps will not work all day. The light mode must be set to 18/6 or 16/8. Plants must also sleep.
Microclonal propagation of plants
Since cuttings cloning has its drawbacks, selection achievements have led us to the concept of microclonal propagation of plants. Propagation of plants by cuttings shows itself better in small populations in private gardening. In the scientific environment, with standard plant cloning, scientists encountered some problems:
- Coniferous and some deciduous trees (for example, oak), as well as walnut trees, are difficult to propagate by cuttings.
- By means of cuttings, many species of trees with an age of more than 10-15 years are practically not propagated.
- The standard material for planting is not always obtained, since with cuttings cloning there is a high probability of infection of the clones.
- It is difficult to propagate adult woody plants with vaccinations.
Benefits of Plant Microcloning
Microclonal propagation of plants has a number of advantages that cannot be achieved when cloning samples in the usual way - by cuttings. Many gardeners are now beginning to become interested in microbiology and purchase materials and devices necessary for microcloning. On the one hand, the crop of plants obtained by cloning cells is much superior in quality to the crop grown from cuttings:
- Planting material is genetically homogeneous - this can be either a plus or a minus.
- The use of virus-free planting material, since meristem cells are used for microcloning.
- High ability to reproduce any species of plants. Even conifers.
- It takes less time to breed new improved plant varieties.
- The plant quickly passes from the juvenile phase to the reproductive one.
- Microclonal propagation of plants can occur all year in special rooms.
- Seedlings obtained by this method take up less space than cuttings.
Stages of plant microcloning
There are only five of them:
- Under the microscope, under sterile conditions, a small amount of meristem is plucked off the plant. This is called taking a sample for cloning. From the meristem in the future will appear all the tissues and organs of the future clone.
- Further, with the meristem tissue, they act in the same way as with the handle - they disinfect the cut and place the sample 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 stalk. 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.
- The grown plants are planted in special installations to prepare for living conditions in the open ground.
- Adult plants are transplanted into the greenhouse and prepared for planting in open soil.