What is the application of totipotency in tissue culture?
Plant tissue culture, also called micropropagation, is a practice used to propagate plants under sterile conditions, often to produce clones of a plant. Plant tissue culture relies on the fact that all plant cells have the ability to generate a whole plant (totipotency). Single cells (protoplasts), pieces of leaves, or roots can often be used to generate a new plant on culture media given the required nutrients and plant hormones. These clones are often used in agriculture or for plants sold to the consumer. Think of all those plants at Home Depot, many were cultured in this fashion. There are very few non-scientific books on the subject, but Plants from Test Tubes: Introduction to Micropropagation is aimed at the novice hobbyist or professional grower looking to expand into micropropagation.
