Uses of Plant Cloning (OCR A Level Biology): Revision Note

Uses of Plant Cloning

Advantages of plant cloning

• All the plants have the same genotype and hence phenotype

• The plants produced are free of disease

• The plants can be genetically modified to confer immunity to certain diseases

  • Genetic modification enables growers to ensure that plants carry very distinct characteristics

• The process is rapid and can yield large numbers of new plants

• The small plants that are produced can be transported easily to other sites

• Plants that are difficult to grow from their seeds can be produced by plant cloning

• Plants can be grown in any country, in any season

• Rare and endangered species can be propagated to save them from extinction

• Whole plants can be created from genetically modified cells/tissues

• The use of cultivars prevents the risk of F₁ hybrids that occur when plants are crossed and grown from seeds, so the products are more uniform

Disadvantages of plant cloning

• It is an expensive and labour-intensive process

• The process is susceptible to microbial contamination

• There is no genetic variation, so all of the offspring are susceptible to the same diseases or other environmental factors

  • This risks large-scale loss of a country's / continent's crop of a particular plant, so a range of cultivars is recommended

• New plants have to be carefully screened for abnormalities that could lead to the new plants being infected

• There is a risk of an unexpected secondary metabolic chemical reaction that could cause stunted growth or even death in the new explants