Dedifferentiation: Cells Regaining Division — NEET Biology
✅ Asked in NEET 2023In tissue culture experiments, leaf mesophyll cells are put in a culture medium to form callus. This phenomenon may be called as: (NEET 2023)
In tissue culture experiments, leaf mesophyll cells are put in a culture medium to form callus. This phenomenon may be called as: (NEET 2023)
Answer & NCERT explanation
Correct answer: C — Dedifferentiation
This is DEDIFFERENTIATION. According to NCERT, when differentiated mesophyll cells lose their specialized features and become meristematic to form callus, it's dedifferentiation. Differentiation is opposite (specialized cells forming), senescence is aging, and development is overall growth process. Callus formation requires cells to regain meristematic activity.
Read more NCERT concept on the PYQ
Plants show another interesting phenomenon. The living differentiated cells, that have lost the capacity to divide can regain the capacity of division under certain conditions. This phenomenon is termed as dedifferentiation. For example, formation of meristems – interfascicular cambium and cork cambium from fully differentiated parenchyma cells.
Dedifferentiation is the process where fully differentiated, mature cells lose their specialized characteristics and regain the capacity to divide. NTA tests this concept because it challenges the common misconception that differentiation is irreversible. Students often confuse dedifferentiation with redifferentiation or believe once cells specialize, they cannot divide again. The key to remembering this: fully differentiated parenchyma cells can form new meristems (interfascicular cambium and cork cambium), proving that division capacity can be regained. This concept appears in questions about plant growth, meristem formation, and secondary growth, making it crucial for understanding plant physiology.
What does NCERT say about Plants show another interesting?
Has this concept appeared in NEET?
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Through deep analysis of NEET and NTA, 88 of 90 questions from the NEET 2026 paper were matched straight from the MedicNEET Biology question bank.
88/90MedicNEET's Biology question bank is built from the same NCERT lines NTA picks repeatedly. Not random MCQs — questions crafted exactly like NTA crafts them.