Methods of genetic conservation

1.  Is the ‘on site’ conservation i.e then and
there in the natural habitat.
 This is on-farm conservation and involves
 Botanical gardens
 National Parks
 Sanctuaries
 Biosphere reserves
 Marine reserves
 wetlands

2. In situ conservation is
a) Primary/primitive
b) Inexpensive
c) Conserves all plant, animal and microbial
communities in a habitat
d) Warrantees the ecological processes
e) Evolution
f) Conservation of ecosystems, habitats

3.  Removing a genetic resource from its natural
habitat and placing them under artificial
conditions
 Seed gene banks: dried to low moisture
content and stored at low temperature
 Field gene banks: plants are conserved in
fields as living collections as field plots,
nurseries or green houses
 In vitro conservation

4. a) Conventionally plant germplasm is
conserved in the form
b) Seed
c) Pollen
d) Embryo
e) Sperm
f) Ovule
g) Bulbs
h) tubers

5.  Requires little space for maintaining large
number of plants
 Pest or pathogen free environment
 Protection against dangers of environmental
hazards
 Protection against biotic and abiotic stresses
 Genetic integrity

6.  Ex situ preservation is mainly by in vitro
approach
 It is the storage as sterile plant tissue or
plantlets/propagules under slow growth
conditions
a) On nutrient agar/gels (short-medium time)
b) Liquid nitrogen (long time)

7.  Tissues and different plant parts are
conserved at very low temperature (-196℃)
in liquid nitrogen, cryopreservation
 Genes and genomes are conserved in
gene/genome/DNA libraries. These types of
collections can be called in vitro gene
banks.

8. Four types of ex situ germplasm collections
are recognized based on the duration and
importance of conservation:
1. Base Collections
2. Active Collections
3. Working Collections
4. Core Collections

9.  These are long-term collections of
germplasm (over 20 years).
 In base collections, seeds are stored at low
moisture levels (3-6%) and zero degree
temperature whereas other plant parts
including cultures are stored under
cryopreservation.

10.  These are collections under medium-term
storage (10-15 years). In this type of
collection, seeds are stored at the
temperature of around 0C and moisture of
8%.
 Cultured materials are also conserved under
medium-term storage.

11.  These are collections under short-term
storage (3-5 years) and are maintained at
5-10C temperature with 8-10% moisture
content.
 These are breeders’ collections that are
utilized for different breeding purposes.

12.  This includes the entire genetic diversity of
a species conserved with minimum
replications.
 This represents a subset of the entire
germplasm with all useful characters#

13.  The technique is mainly for vegetatively
propagated species
 Species with recalcitrant seeds
 Materials used include
a) Isolated protoplasts
b) Cells from suspension or callus cultures
c) Meristem tips

14.  Seed banks have long been used for long
time ex situ storage of genetic resources
 Most convenient since requires low space
 Their transport to other centres
 De merits include
 Loss of viability over long term storage
 Susceptibility to insect or pathogen attack

15.  Storage of plantlets regenerated from in vitro
meristem cultures
 The plants are then transferred to a storage
medium at 18C for 12 months
 Sugarcane germplasm is conserved by
planting the cuttings in soil, the process is
a) Labour intensive tedious
b) Time consuming
c) Germplasm is vulnerable to environmental
factors
d) Attack by pests

16.  Storage of cells in vitro is a most convenient
method of germplasm conservation
 Secondary metabolites can be used as
medicinal products
 Cell/callus cultures mostly undergo genetic
changes after long subcultures
 Mostly these changes are negative
 Sometimes beneficial such as soma clonal
variations
 Give high yields

17.  Avoiding sub culturing can preserve genetic
stability
 Can be achieved by cryopreservation

18.  also called transformed root culture, is used
to study plant metabolic processes or to
produce valuable secondary metabolites or
recombinant proteins

19.  With protoplast culture it is possible to
transfer genes by the fusion of protoplasts
from genetically different plants
 Or through direct introduction of foreign
genes into protoplasts

20.  Zygotic embryos are sole materials of long
term conservation in case of seeds which
 Have slow germination rate, Rare or damaged

21.  Regenerate true-to type plants
 The technique allows the rapid multiplication
of a particular species in controlled
environment

22.  Preservation of cells whole tissues susceptible
to be damaged by
a) Chemical reactivity
b) With the passage of time
 storage at sub-zero temperature (-196C)
 The material is saved due to cessation of
a) Cell division
b) Metabolic process
c) Enzyme activities

23.  Requires simple equipment and facilities
 Cooling with the help of liquid nitrogen
 Relatively costly
 Provides extended storage periods

24. Clonal propagation: is the forced axillary
shoot/bud proliferation
 Sterilized shoot tip or bud is placed on
culture medium
 Induced to form multiple buds

25.  Plants produced are morphologically and
genetically similar to parent plants
 Rapid multiplication of superior clones
 Multiplication of Disease free plants
 Multiplication of sterile hybrids

26.  Single cells develop into bipolar embryos
 These somatic embryos can spontaneously
develop into embryos again