Plant Asexual Reproduction?

Question

Can someone please explain me what exactly is meristem and the way they are used in layering and grafting plant technique?

the only thing i can think off is that meristem undergo mitosis repeatedly.

Please provide me your guidance

Answer 1

Meristem is defined as undifferentiated but determined tissue, the cells of which are capable of active cell division and differentiation into specialized and permanent tissue such as shoots and roots. It is often found at the tips of bud and roots. So kind of similar to stem cells in that sense but for plants and growing really fast. They are used for layering and grafting because they are undifferentiated and, if placed in an area of another plant, will use chemical signals from the cells of the plant they were layered onto or grafted onto to them differentiate into those types of cells but they will still contain the DNA from the plant they were originally taken from. This way we can get an apple tree that multiple different apple types growing on each different branch (grafting) or we get a weird looking tree that has one end in the ground (the original roots) and then any buds that were inserted into the ground while still on the tree become roots (layering) and then can be separated from the mother plant to be a new plant. The definitions of the two are below if that helps too.

Layering: The rooting of an unattached branch, laying on or partially buried in the soil, which is capable of independent growth after separation from the mother plant.

Grafting: the joining of two separate structures, such as a root and a stem or two stems, so that by tissue regeneration they form a union and grow as one plant.

Answer 2

No, in general insects don't help plants reproduce asexually. Asexual plant reproduction usually occurs through specialized stems and roots that are able to self-replicate, such and rhizomes or stolon. Some herbivorous insects feed on these tissues, so if an insect feeds on a rhizome and transports a piece to a new location and the piece of rhizome sprouts a new plant, the insect would have aided in asexual plant reproduction.

Answer 3

The plant must be found stable by asexual reproduction. By definition that means, "Creating a plant using techniques such as grafting, budding, or using cuttings, layering, or division without using seeds. Plant offspring will be substantially identical to the parent."
Asexual reproduction is the propagation of a plant to multiply the plant without the use of genetic seeds to assure an exact genetic copy of the plant being reproduced.
Any known method of asexual reproduction which renders a true genetic copy of the plant may be employed.

Acceptable modes of asexual reproduction would include but may not be limited to: Rooting Cuttings - Grafting Budding - Apomictic Seeds - Bulbs - Division - Slips - Layering - Rhizomes - Runners - Corms - Tissue Culture - Nucellar Embryos