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What are the differences between plant and animal tissue culture?
Posted December 3, 2020
Answer
The following table outlines the major differences between plant and animal tissue culture:
| Plant Tissue Culture | Animal Tissue Culture |
| A technique used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues or organs under aseptic conditions on a culture medium. | An in vitro technique in which a sample cell, tissue or organ is cultivated from a parent organism and grown artificially in a controlled environment (e.g. incubator and culture medium) |
| Require a limited number of nutrients for growth | Requires a wide range of nutrients for growth (e.g carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, etc.) |
| Can differentiate into any type of plant cell | Can only perform the specialized functions of the organ from which the sample was cultivated |
| Can undergo an unlimited number of cell cycles | Undergoes a finite number of cell cycles before they begin to degrade. |
| Can be divided into three main categories: callus culture, protoplast culture and embryo culture | Can be divided into two main categories: adherent cultures and suspension cultures |
| Photosynthetic | Not photosynthetic |
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