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Science & Plants for Schools (SAPS)
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Cauliflower Cloning
This video introduces a reliable technique to demonstrate tissue culture and totipotency, and shows how best to use this protocol with your students.
Unlike animal cells, many plant cells are totipotent, meaning that each cell has the capacity to regenerate the entire plant. Micropropagation is the regeneration of whole plants from small pieces of plant material. In this case students use a tiny piece of a cauliflower, in place of the endangered species that the protocol was designed for. Since all the explants come from the same cauliflower, the new plants will be clones of each other.
The technique is based on a protocol developed by plant scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and is used in their conservation programmes, allowing critically endangered plant material to be cloned in the field, rather than waiting until a 'clean lab' can be found to rescue plant material.
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Teachers' notes 180 KB
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Activity sheet 110 KB
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Information sheet 1.71 MB
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Information sheet 273.2 KB
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Teachers' notes 180 KB -
Activity sheet 110 KB
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Information sheet 1.71 MB -
Information sheet 273.2 KB
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