Plants have asexual and sexual reproduction, and plant cells have chromosomes {plant genetics}. Plants make many seeds, so seed generations have many mutations and recombinations. Many plants have polyploidy, allowing more variation.
cloning
Electroporation and tungsten bullets can introduce DNA fragments into plants. The small flowering-plant weed Arabidopsis thaliana can clone genes.
cloning: expression
Plants can express oils and seed proteins. Plants can add drought and frost resistance. Plants can become able to fix nitrogen.
insects
Plants can protect themselves from insects. Bacillus thuringiensis sporulation makes protein crystals that kill many insect larvae. Tomato, potato, and cowpea serine-protease inhibitors inhibit serine protease in insect intestines.
weeds
Weeds grow faster and so use more chemicals than regular plants. Plant-killing chemicals inhibit growth mostly in weeds, but other plants have affects. Herbicide-tolerant plants have enzymes that break down herbicides, increase herbicide-targeted enzymes, or have mutated enzymes that herbicides cannot affect. Bacteria can have enzymes that break down herbicides.
Ultrapetala gene {petal gene} controls petal number by modifying meristem cell number.
Double-stranded plant DNA viruses {geminivirus} can hold foreign genes for cloning in plants.
Agrobacterium-tumefaciens Ti plasmids cause tumors {crown gall tumor} in dicot plant cells. Agrobacteria have genes that make proteins that hold bacteria on plants.
Agrobacterium-tumefaciens large, circular, DNA plasmids {Ti plasmid} can cause crown gall tumors. Ti plasmids carry genes and antibiotic marker genes into plant leaf cells, in the leaf-disk technique. Ti-DNA sequences can insert into dicot-plant-cell chromosomes. Ti DNA codes auxin enzyme.
Regenerating-plant-cell molecules activate Ti-plasmid genes {vir gene}, which make trans-acting proteins to transform cells to tumors. After vir genes start making proteins, cells release transposable elements with 25-base border ends as single-strand DNAs {T-DNA}.
T-DNA codes for special amino acids {opine, amino acid} that other Ti enzymes break down for food.
Ti DNA codes enzymes and hormones {auxin enzyme} {phytohormone} that together cause tumor-cell division.
Plant tissue {callus, plant}| can cover wounds. Callus cells can make new plants. Different callus cells from the same plant callus make different plants {somaclonal variation}, because gene expression differs.
After cutting leaves, edges regenerate using special cells {edge cell}.
Removing cell walls from plant embryo cells, with fungal cellulase, leaves cells {protoplast}| surrounded only by plasma membrane. Protoplasts can start new plants.
One plant can make new plants {selfed}|, because plants can self-fertilize.
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Date Modified: 2022.0225