Plant Cloning: Micropropagation

This lesson covers: 

  1. What micropropagation is
  2. The steps in making a tissue culture for micropropagation
  3. Applications of micropropagation
  4. Advantages and disadvantages of micropropagation

What is micropropagation?

Micropropagation is a technique for producing many identical plant clones from a single parent plant through a tissue culture. It is a type of asexual reproduction on a very large scale.


A tissue culture involves growing plant tissues in a sterile medium enriched with hormones like auxins and cytokinins that stimulate cell division and growth.

The steps in making a tissue culture for micropropagation

Diagram showing the micropropagation process from explants to calluses to plantlets to adult plants.
  1. Explant collection
  • Small tissue samples called explants are taken from a parent plant to start the micropropagation process.
  • Explants are typically taken from the stem and root tips as they have meristem cells.
  • Meristem cells are totipotent so can differentiate into any type of plant cell.


  1. Sterilisation
  • The explant's cells are sterilised to remove and inhibit the growth of contaminants such as bacteria and fungi.
  • This reduces the risk of widespread infection and helps to produce healthier crops.


  1. Culture
  • The sterilised explant cells are then cultured on a nutrient-rich medium.
  • The medium supplies minerals, sugars, vitamins, and growth hormones like auxins that support rapid cell division and growth.


  1. Development
  • The cells in each explant divide to form an undifferentiated mass of cells called a callus.
  • The callus cells are transferred to a new medium with specific conditions to encourage shoot and root formation.
  • This allows the callus cells to differentiate and develop into plantlets.


  1. Transfer
  • Fully formed plantlets, complete with shoots and roots, are moved to a growth medium like soil.
  • There, they can develop into mature plants that are identical to the parent plant.

Applications of micropropagation

Being able to produce numerous uniform clones from a single parent plant is useful in many commercial applications.


Micropropagation via plant tissue culture has several applications:

  • It enables the rapid and large-scale propagation of plants that naturally reproduce slowly or are rare or endangered.
  • It is used for producing disease-free clones of crops and preserving valuable genetic resources.
  • It allows the mass production of genetically modified plants, such as those engineered for herbicide resistance.
  • It can be used to produce seedless plants or those that are difficult to cultivate from seeds.

Advantages and disadvantages of micropropagation

The artificial cloning of plants via micropropagation presents both advantages and challenges.

Advantages of micropropagationDisadvantages of micropropagation
Produces plants that are genetically identical so there is a reliable inheritance of traits, such as those that produce high yields.All plants are genetically identical (monoculture) so crops are vulnerable to diseases and environmental changes.
It can be carried out at all times of year.It may unintentionally propagate undesirable traits.
It is more space-efficient compared to conventional propagation methods.It is expensive and requires skilled technicians, making it less feasible on a small scale.
It rapidly produces of a large number of mature plants.Explants and plantlets are vulnerable to infection, increasing the risk of total crop loss.

Despite concerns regarding genetic variability and operational costs, micropropagation remains a powerful tool for commercial plant production and conservation efforts.