Unit 7: Anther culture (Androgenesis) - Practice Quiz

1 What is androgenesis in plant tissue culture?

2 Anther culture is primarily used to produce plants with which chromosome number?

3 The male reproductive part of a flower that is excised for anther culture is the:

4 Which cells inside the anther give rise to haploid plants during androgenesis?

5 The most suitable stage of pollen development for successful anther culture is generally the:

6 Before inoculation, anthers are usually surface sterilized to:

7 Which of the following is a commonly used surface sterilant for flower buds in anther culture?

8 During anther isolation, the flower bud is opened to carefully remove which structure attached to the anther?

9 Why should the anther be kept free of filament and other floral tissue during inoculation?

10 Anther inoculation is carried out under aseptic conditions inside a:

11 Which nutrient medium is most commonly used as the basal medium for anther culture?

12 A simple way to check the correct pollen stage before inoculation is to:

13 A cold pretreatment (e.g., ) of flower buds before anther culture is often used to:

14 The haploid plants produced through anther culture can be made homozygous diploid by treatment with:

15 Doubled haploid plants obtained after chromosome doubling are valuable in breeding because they are:

16 Which term describes the direct formation of embryos from cultured microspores or anthers?

17 Which of the following crops is classically used as a model for successful anther culture?

18 After inoculation, anther cultures are typically incubated:

19 A major advantage of using anther culture in plant breeding programmes is that it:

20 An undesirable outcome sometimes seen in anther culture, where regenerated plants are not uniformly haploid, is due to:

21 During anther culture, haploid plants develop primarily because the cultured cells originate from which structure?

22 Why is the correct developmental stage of the microspore considered the single most critical factor for successful anther culture?

23 A researcher wants to quickly estimate microspore stage before culture. Which practical correlation is most commonly used in the field?

24 Before inoculation, flower buds are commonly surface sterilized and then held at low temperature (around ) for a few days. What is the main purpose of this cold pretreatment?

25 While excising anthers, a technician often discards buds where filaments are long and anthers have dehisced. Why?

26 During excision, care is taken to remove the filament completely before placing anthers on medium. What is the main reason?

27 In a routine protocol, buds are surface sterilized rather than the individual anthers. Which reasoning best supports this practice?

28 A student obtains many plants from anther culture but finds most are diploid, not haploid. What is the most likely explanation?

29 Which combination of plant growth regulators is typically effective for inducing androgenesis in many species?

30 Haploid plants regenerated from anther culture are often treated with colchicine. What is the objective?

31 In anther culture, activated charcoal is sometimes added to the medium. Its main role is to:

32 Which cytological verification is most direct for confirming that regenerated plantlets are haploid?

33 Why is the physiological condition of the donor plant important for anther culture success?

34 A key advantage of doubled haploids produced via anther culture over conventional inbreeding is that:

35 In some protocols microspores are isolated from anthers and cultured directly (isolated microspore culture) instead of whole anthers. One major benefit is:

36 During inoculation, anthers are usually placed so the locule side contacts the medium, avoiding pressure that ruptures them. Why avoid rupture?

37 Which stress pretreatment, besides cold, is frequently applied to buds/anthers to enhance androgenic induction?

38 The phenomenon where cultured anthers produce plants that are a mixture of haploid, diploid and aneuploid cells is called:

39 Why are low light or dark conditions often used during the early induction phase of anther culture?

40 A breeder crosses two parents, then uses anther culture on the F hybrid. What is the main strategic advantage?

41 During anther culture, a researcher observes that anthers inoculated at the late uninucleate to early binucleate microspore stage give the highest androgenic response, while anthers taken at the mature pollen stage fail completely. What is the primary reason for this stage-dependence?

42 A cold pretreatment (e.g., for several days) of flower buds prior to anther inoculation frequently increases embryo yield. Which mechanism best explains this stress-induced enhancement?

43 In an anther culture experiment, a large fraction of the regenerated plants turn out to be diploid rather than the expected haploid. Assuming the microspores were correctly staged, what is the most likely source of these diploids?

44 To confirm that a regenerated plantlet from anther culture is genuinely of microspore (gametic) origin and not somatic, which approach is most rigorous?

45 A protocol calls for surface sterilization of intact flower buds rather than isolated anthers before dissection. What is the principal rationale for sterilizing the whole bud?

46 When inoculating anthers, technicians are warned to avoid damaging or breaking the anther during dissection. Why is an intact, undamaged anther important for androgenesis (as opposed to callus from wounding)?

47 A researcher wants to determine the correct microspore stage without sacrificing the anthers to be cultured. Which practical correlation is most commonly exploited for staging?

48 In many dicots, anther-culture-derived haploids spontaneously double to diploid, whereas in cereals colchicine treatment is often required. What underlies this need for artificial chromosome doubling?

49 Adding activated charcoal to the anther culture medium often improves androgenic embryo formation. Which explanation is best supported?

50 A comparison shows that isolated microspore culture generally yields a higher frequency of true haploids than intact anther culture. What is the fundamental advantage of the isolated-microspore approach?

51 In an experiment, anthers plated on a medium with a high auxin:cytokinin ratio produced abundant callus, but the callus mostly regenerated diploid plants. What is the best interpretation?

52 Two donor-plant batches of identical genotype give very different androgenic responses; one had been grown under short days with high light, the other under stressful low-nutrient conditions. Which conclusion about anther culture is most valid?

53 Why is the term 'androgenesis' specifically appropriate for anther/microspore culture, and how does it contrast with gynogenesis?

54 A worker reports that anthers dehisced (split open) during dissection and pollen was released onto the medium; subsequent cultures failed. What is the most likely reason for failure?

55 In doubling-haploid breeding, why are anther-culture-derived doubled haploids especially valuable compared with conventional inbreeding to homozygosity?

56 Which combination of pretreatment plus medium condition would most rationally be chosen to maximize the sporophytic switch while minimizing somatic-tissue regeneration in a recalcitrant cereal?

57 'Albino plant' regeneration is a well-known problem in cereal anther culture. What does the frequent recovery of albinos indicate about the process?

58 If a heterozygous donor plant is used for anther culture, what genotypic outcome is expected among the (chromosome-doubled) haploid regenerants, ignoring linkage?

59 A lab wants to verify microspore stage rapidly at the bench during dissection. Which staining method is the standard choice for visualizing the nucleus/nuclei to confirm the uninucleate stage?

60 A researcher obtains many embryo-like structures from anther culture but they arrest before forming shoots. Which manipulation is the most logical next step to promote conversion to plantlets?