Question

The concept of totipotency in plants was given by

• A. Schwan
• B. Morgan
• C. Murashige
• D. Haberlandt

Hint:

• Totipotency (Plant Cells) The inherent capacity of a plant cell to differentiate and regenerate into a whole plant.
• Gottlieb Haberlandt (1902) First to propose the concept of plant cell totipotency and attempt single-cell culture.
• Practical demonstration of totipotency (regeneration of whole plants from cultured cells/tissues) came later by other scientists.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Totipotency is the ability of a single cell to divide and differentiate to produce an entire, complete organism. In plants, many differentiated cells can retain totipotency. The concept of plant cell totipotency was first proposed by the German botanist Gottlieb Haberlandt in 1902. He envisioned that isolated plant cells could be cultured in vitro and could potentially regenerate into whole plants, although he himself was not successful in achieving this with single cells at the time. His ideas laid the theoretical foundation for plant tissue culture. Later experiments by others (e.g., Skoog, Miller, Steward) successfully demonstrated plant regeneration from single cells or small tissue pieces, confirming Haberlandt's concept. Let's look at the other names: (a) Theodor Schwann: A German physiologist, co-founder of the cell theory (along with Matthias Schleiden). (b) Thomas Hunt Morgan: An American geneticist, known for his work on fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) which established the chromosomal basis of heredity (Nobel Prize 1933). (c) Toshio Murashige: Known for developing the widely used Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium for plant tissue culture (along with Folke Skoog). Therefore, Gottlieb Haberlandt is credited with first proposing the concept of plant cell totipotency. \[ \boxed{\text{Haberlandt}} \]