Somatic embryos

Plant embryos produced asexually from somatic cells

Somatic cells can be obtained from e.g. the hypocotyl or plant roots. Unlike gametes, somatic cells do not pass on their genes to the following generation. Somatic embryogenesis is the term used to describe the process of growing embryos from somatic cells. This is a biotechnological method used to produce large numbers of homozygous progeny from one mother plant.