PLANT TISSUE CULTURE CSIR

Summary

This educational video delves into plant tissue culture, a technique crucial for preserving India's rich biodiversity. It outlines the process from sterilization to acclimatization, highlighting its significance in mass propagation, producing disease-free plants, and generating high-value compounds. The video underscores the technique's role in conserving rare species and creating improved crops, showcasing its broad applications in agriculture and biotechnology.

Takeaways

• 🌱 India is home to three of the world's 34 biodiversity hotspots, hosting a vast array of endemic species.
• 🔥 Anthropogenic activities and population growth are threatening the survival of many of these species, leading to a high risk of extinction.
• 🌿 Plant tissue culture is a critical tool for conservation, allowing for the preservation of medicinal plants and meeting the increasing demand for them.
• 📚 The concept of totipotency, introduced in 1902, underpins plant tissue culture, suggesting every plant cell can regenerate into a whole plant.
• 🧪 Plant tissue culture involves growing plant cells, tissues, or organs in sterile conditions on a defined nutrient medium.
• 🔬 The process includes steps like preparing instruments and media, sterilization, inoculation, incubation, and acclimatization of plantlets.
• 🧴 Sterilization of culture media and instruments is crucial, typically done using an autoclave at high temperature and pressure.
• 🌱 Explants, which are parts of plants like leaves, buds, or seeds, are collected from healthy plants and undergo surface sterilization before inoculation.
• 🏥 Inoculation is performed under aseptic conditions in a laminar hood, using sterilized tools to transfer explants to the culture medium.
• 🌡️ Post-inoculation, cultures are incubated under optimal conditions of light, temperature, and humidity to promote growth.
• 🌳 Plant tissue culture is vital for mass propagation, production of disease-free planting material, generation of phytochemicals, and conservation of rare species.

Q & A

What is the significance of India's biodiversity in the context of the world's hotspots?

India is a mega diverse country with thousands of rare endemic plants and animal species. Out of the total 34 hotspots all over the world, three are in India, indicating its significant role in global biodiversity.

How does anthropogenic activity threaten the species in India's biodiversity hotspots?

Anthropogenic activities and influx of population have led to the verge of extinction for most of the species in India's biodiversity hotspots, including the extinction of many endemic plant species.

What is plant tissue culture and how does it help in conservation efforts?

Plant tissue culture is a collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues, or organs under sterile conditions on a nutrient culture medium. It helps in conservation efforts by preserving precious plants of medicinal use and overcoming the growing demand for such species.

Who conceptualized the concept of totipotency in plant tissue culture?

The concept of totipotency, which is fundamental to plant tissue culture, was conceptualized by a German botanist in 1902.

What is the process of micropropagation and how is it used in plant tissue culture?

Micropropagation is a method used in plant tissue culture to produce clones of plants. It involves various steps such as preparation of instruments and nutrient culture medium, sterilization, inoculation, incubation for growth, and acclimatization of plantlets.

What are the necessary instruments and apparatus required for plant tissue culture?

The necessary instruments and apparatus for plant tissue culture include forceps, scissors, blade holders, disposable but sterile surgical blades, Petri plates, beakers, Erlenmeyer flasks, test tubes, pipettes, and a bottle with a screw cap.

How is the nutrient culture medium prepared for plant tissue culture?

The nutrient culture medium for plant tissue culture comprises macro elements, micro elements, vitamins, amino acids, and sucrose. The salts are precisely weighed and dissolved in deionized water, and the pH is adjusted before pouring the medium into flasks or test tubes.

What is the role of autoclaving in the preparation of plant tissue culture?

Autoclaving is used to sterilize equipment and supplies in plant tissue culture by subjecting them to high-pressure saturated steam at 120 degrees Celsius and a pressure of 15 Pascal for 20 minutes.

What are explants and how are they prepared for inoculation in plant tissue culture?

Explants are parts of a plant such as petals, leaves, buds, ovaries, seeds, and nodal segments used in plant tissue culture. They are collected from disease-free, healthy, and actively growing plants, cleaned, and surface-sterilized before being used for inoculation.

How is the inoculation process carried out in a laminar hood for plant tissue culture?

Inoculation in plant tissue culture is done under septic conditions within a laminar hood. The hood is equipped with a high-efficiency particulate air filter, and the explants are sterilized before being transferred into the nutrient medium under aseptic conditions.

What is the purpose of acclimatization in plant tissue culture and how is it done?

Acclimatization is the process of hardening tissue culture-raised plantlets to outdoor conditions. It involves transferring them to greenhouse or outdoor conditions, where they are subjected to various environmental shocks to prepare them for the harsh conditions outside the controlled in vitro environment.

What are the applications of plant tissue culture in agriculture and conservation?

Plant tissue culture has applications in mass propagation of plants, generation of quality planting material, production of phytochemicals and high-value products, development of improved and tailor-made crops through transgenic techniques, and conservation of endangered, threatened, and rare plant species.