Back to: Botany 400 Level
My brilliant Afrilearn scholar, how body today? I trust say your brain dey shine like morning sun! Today, we go talk about something wey every tissue culture lab for Nigeria and beyond no fit do without — the nutritional media wey plants need to grow inside bottle and the growth regulators wey dey guide them like traffic light. If you ever chop balanced food wey sweet your body, then you go understand why these things dey important for plant cells too.
Nutritional media (e.g., Murashige and Skoog medium) and growth regulators
Imagine you wan raise a baby from scratch. You no go just give am water and expect am to grow well. You go provide milk, soft food, and later balanced diet — protein, carbs, vitamins, minerals. Same thing with plant tissue culture. Once we collect small plant tissue (called explant), we must put am in a culture medium wey get all the nutrients it needs to survive, multiply, and develop. That’s where Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium and plant growth regulators enter the story.
What is Nutritional Medium?
A nutritional medium is the special food wey scientists prepare for plant tissues to grow in the lab. The most popular one na Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, developed in 1962 by two scientists.
MS Medium Contains:
- Macronutrients – These include nitrogen (N), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), and sulphur (S). They help in forming plant structure and supporting metabolism.
- Micronutrients – Like iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), and boron (B). Even though dem small, dem very important for enzyme activity and plant health.
- Vitamins – Like thiamine (B1), nicotinic acid, and pyridoxine. These help with cell growth and metabolism.
- Carbon Source – Usually sucrose (table sugar) wey gives energy to the tissue since there is no sunlight inside culture bottles.
- Gelling Agent – Mostly agar. E help to solidify the medium so the tissue no go sink.
Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs)
These na chemical signals wey tell plant tissues what to do. Just like how you dey know when to sleep, eat or waka, plants too need direction. PGRs come in different types:
- Auxins (e.g., IAA, NAA, 2,4-D) – Encourage root formation and callus induction.
- Cytokinins (e.g., BAP, kinetin) – Promote shoot formation.
- Gibberellins – Help with elongation and breaking seed dormancy.
- Abscisic Acid (ABA) – Helps in stress response and embryo development.
- Ethylene – Involved in fruit ripening and can influence tissue culture response.
The balance of these hormones na wetin go determine whether the tissue go grow root, shoot, or just multiply into more callus.
In many Nigerian research centres, like NABDA or IITA, improved yam seedlings dey produced by putting nodal explants inside MS medium mixed with BAP and NAA. The shoot go first develop, and then later, they transfer it to another medium with just auxin to form root. From one node, thousands of yams fit grow — clean, healthy, and fast!
Summary
- Murashige and Skoog medium na the standard plant food for tissue culture.
- It contains macro/micronutrients, sugar, vitamins, and a gelling agent.
- Plant growth regulators guide how the tissue grows — whether to become roots, shoots, or remain as callus.
- The combination of the right medium and hormones determines the success of tissue culture.
Evaluation
- What are the main components of Murashige and Skoog medium?
- Which plant growth regulator promotes shoot development?
- Why is sucrose added to the culture medium?
- Give one example of how MS medium is used in Nigeria.
No forget say the knowledge you dey build today fit solve Nigeria food problems tomorrow. You no just dey learn for yourself, you dey learn for your community, your future lab, and even for Africa. Keep that fire burning, Afrilearn dey by your side like correct lab partner! Ready for the next lesson? Let’s keep growing!
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