Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v4 - SHS 3
BIOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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BIOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Download the Lessonotes Mobile Ghana app for faster lesson access on Android and iPhone.
Subject: Biology
Class: SHS 3
Term: 1st Term
Week: 2
Grade code: 3.1.2.LI.2
Strand code: 1
Sub-strand code: 2
Content standard code: 3.1.2.CS.1
Indicator code: 3.1.2.LI.2
Theme: EXPLORING BIOLOGY IN SOCIETY
Subtheme: BIOLOGY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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This lesson introduces the revolutionary biological technique of plant tissue culture. In Ghana, farmers often struggle with low yields due to diseases affecting planting materials (like Cassava Mosaic Virus in cassava or nematodes in yams) and the slow multiplication rate of high-quality crop varieties. Tissue culture, also known as micropropagation, offers a powerful scientific solution to these problems. It allows for the rapid production of millions of identical, disease-free, high-yielding plants from a tiny piece of a parent plant.
A. What is Plant Tissue Culture?
Plant Tissue Culture is a collection of techniques used to grow plant cells, tissues, or organs under sterile (aseptic) conditions on a specially formulated nutrient medium. It is often done in a laboratory in controlled environments (e.g., in glass test tubes or jars), hence the term *in vitro* cultivation (Latin for "in glass"). A common name for this process, especially when the goal is to produce many plants, is micropropagation. B. The Core Principle: Totipotency
The entire science of tissue culture is based on a remarkable ability of plant cells called totipotency. Definition: Totipotency is the inherent potential of a single plant cell to divide, differentiate, and grow into a complete, new plant, provided it is given the right nutrients and environmental conditions. Analogy: Think of a single cell from a mango tree's leaf. That one cell contains the complete genetic blueprint (the DNA) for the entire tree—the roots, the stem, the leaves, the flowers, and the fruits. It's like having the entire architect's plan for a skyscraper stored in a single brick. Tissue culture is the process of providing that "brick" with the right materials and instructions to rebuild the whole skyscraper. C. The Process of Plant Tissue Culture (Micropropagation)
The process can be broken down into six key stages.