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#meristem culture

6 public questions tagged with this topic.

Plant tissue culture 1

Meristematic tissues are virus free because:

Meristematic tissues remain virus free because virus multiplication and movement are inhibited in rapidly dividing apical dome cells. Most plant viruses rely on plasmodesmata intercellular connections and phloem sieve tubes for systemic translocation from source leaves to sinks; meristem dome lacks differentiated phloem and contains narrow plasmodesmata with high callose deposition limiting viral cell to cell trafficking. Additionally mitotic cycle of meristem cells is significantly shorter than time required for virus replication and assembly, so daughter cells produced outrun infection front

Ref: Cassells 1991 virus free meristem; Lodish Chap. 8 viral movement.

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Plant tissue culture 1

Meristem culture is mainly used to produce:

Meristem culture technique involves aseptic excision of apical dome typically 0.1-0.5 millimeter containing tunica corpus but no differentiated leaf primordia and culture on MS based medium for regenerating plants principally to obtain virus free stocks. Foundation lies in observation that meristematic dome lacks differentiated vascular sieve elements through which many systemic viruses like Potato Virus Y, Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Cucumber Mosaic Virus travel long distance and also that rapid mitotic activity outpaces viral replication. High endogenous auxin and cytokinin concentration plus RNA

Ref: Bhojwani & Dantu Chap. 11 virus elimination; Walkey 1978 Phytopath Z.

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