Question

We looked at different tissues in both plants and animals. Are these terms being used in the same way in both plant and animal discussions? Explain.

Answer 1

Stem cells are often in the news because of potential medical use and because of the ethical debate around human embryonic stem cells. From the point of view of biologists, however, stem cells have even wider significance as central players in the development of complex organisms, which include plants. There are surprising similarities between stem cells found in plants and in animals.

Stem cells function as a source of new cells to grow or replace specialised tissues. To perform this function, these cells must divide to renew themselves, while some of their descendants eventually differentiate to build up new tissues. By this definition, stem cells are particularly important for plant growth, because virtually all tissues of the plant descend from small groups of stem cells located in their growing apices, within structures called the apical meristems