Question

Somaclones are ______.
A. Somatic Hybrids
B. Genetically identical to the original plant
C. Used to recover disease-free plants
D. Sterile plants

Answer 1

Hint: Clone usually refers to an exact copy of something, a feature of asexual reproduction.

Complete answer:
In-plant tissue culture or micropropagation technique a whole new plant is developed from a single cell or an explant (somatic cell or tissue), the new plant produced is usually identical to the parent genotypically and therefore are known as somaclones.

Additional Information:
- Tissue culture technique is of several types and provides several advantages.
- The types of tissue culture or micropropagation techniques are:
a. Callus Culture: Explant undergoes mitotic division is tissue culture medium and forms an undifferentiated and unorganized mass of cells that are actively dividing, known as a callus.
b. Suspension Culture: A single cell or a tissue (explant) is suspended in a liquid medium containing auxin. The mixture is agitated which helps aeration, mixing, and separation of cell aggregates in small groups. Each of these groups forms a callus and then develop into new plants.
c. Meristem Culture: Involves the micropropagation of apical or axillary meristems. The meristem is free of virus hence, a virus-infected plant can be regrown by meristem culture.
d. Protoplast Culture or Somatic hybridization: Two somatic cells are fused after removal of the cell wall. These give rise to a new type of plant with properties from both parents.

In general steps in tissue culture are as follows:
- Explant establishment
- Multiplication
- Rooting
- Hardening

So, the correct answer is, ‘Somaclones are genetically identical to the original plant’.

Note: It is to be remembered that even though somaclones are identical copies of the parent plant with the same genotype, sometimes during performing tissue culture genetic variations may occur due to mutation or other reasons, these genetic variations are known as somaclonal variation.