Explain the term : Somaclonal variations

Explanation

Somaclonal Variations. It has been oserved that genetic variations occur in plants at all levels of the tissue culture process. The variations observed among plants regenerated from tissue culture have been termed as Somaclonal variations. Such a variation occurs as a rule and not as an exception. Somaclonal variation appears to be a phenomenon which affects cytoplasmic genome as well as nuclear genome. These variations are useful for improvement of crops if they are heritable and have agronomic traits such as resistance to insect pests and diseases, tolerance to environmental stresses, male sterility, etc.