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How to Clone a Cauliflower

Cloning is one of those things your students might associate with science fiction or futuristic technologies, not something they do in a biology practical, because, well, it doesn’t usually work…until now.

Unlike previous methods used for school practicals, the technique shown in the above video provides a reliable way to carry out the practical that virtually guarantees to produce clones of a cauliflower. It was developed at The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew to allow scientists to clone plants without needing to be in a sterile lab and it’s already been used to save endangered species.

The key to the success of this technique is the sterile agar growth medium and we’ve made a separate video for technicians showing how to prepare this:

You can get further support materials for carrying out this practical at the Science and Plants for Schools website

2 thoughts on “How to Clone a Cauliflower”

  1. Easy, simple and effective way to teach some of the concepts – need for sterilisation, cloning and asexual reproduction or just the difference between animal cells and the totipotency of plant cells

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