Tissue Culture
/TISH-oo KUL-chur/✂️ Propagation●●● Advanced
Also known as: micropropagation, in vitro propagation
Tissue culture (micropropagation) is the aseptic cultivation of plant cells, tissues, or organs on artificial nutrient media under controlled conditions. Starting from a tiny explant (shoot tip, leaf section, or even single cells), thousands of genetically identical plants can be produced rapidly. It is used commercially for orchids, bananas, disease-free potato stock, and rare/endangered species conservation.
Etymology
From Old French tissu (woven cloth) + Latin cultura (growing, tending)
Example
“Tissue culture allowed the nursery to produce 50,000 genetically identical orchid plants from a single mother plant.”