Cloning: Cuttings, Tissue Culture and Adult Cell Cloning · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Copying life exactly

Science · Genetics & Evolution · ages 15-16
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Why does tissue culture scale faster than cuttings?

    • It uses bigger fields
    • Tiny shoot tips grow into thousands of plantlets on sterile jelly
    • It waits for seeds

  2. How does a cutting make a clone?

    • A stem piece with buds is planted and roots into a copy
    • Two seeds are mixed together
    • A leaf is dried and framed

  3. Dolly the sheep grew from an ordinary fertilised egg. Is that right?

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. Why is zero genetic variation risky for a crop?

    • One disease can wipe out the whole population
    • Identical plants taste identical
    • Clones need no water

  5. In adult cell cloning, what must happen to the egg first?

    • It is painted
    • It is split in half
    • Its own nucleus is removed

  6. Why do farmers clone a prize fruit tree instead of planting its seeds?

    • Seeds grow too fast
    • Cloning copies elite traits exactly with no lottery of reproduction
    • Seeds are illegal

  7. Pat says nuclear transfer worked because the egg kept its own DNA too. What is wrong?

    • The egg was emptied, so the animal carries donor genes only
    • Eggs have no DNA at all
    • Nothing: two genomes are better

  8. An orchid breeder needs 10,000 identical plants fast. Cuttings or tissue culture?

    • Cuttings, since labs never help
    • Seeds, since copies do not matter
    • Tissue culture, since tiny explants scale to thousands
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Copying life exactly W1-mt_3NaPCGrZTg-s1

  1. Tiny shoot tips grow into thousands of plantlets on sterile jelly · Small explants multiply in parallel instead of one stem at a time.
  2. A stem piece with buds is planted and roots into a copy · Hormones at the cut end grow roots, giving a plant identical to the parent.
  3. False · Her egg was rebuilt with an adult nucleus after its own DNA was removed.
  4. One disease can wipe out the whole population · No individual carries a different resistance gene to survive the pest.
  5. Its own nucleus is removed · Emptying the egg leaves room for the donor nucleus to direct development.
  6. Cloning copies elite traits exactly with no lottery of reproduction · Seeds reshuffle the genome, while cloning keeps the winner intact.
  7. The egg was emptied, so the animal carries donor genes only · A kept egg nucleus would mix genomes instead of copying the donor.
  8. Tissue culture, since tiny explants scale to thousands · Speed plus identity at volume is exactly what culture is for.
Worksheet · LightMySky