What is the term for the growth of tissues or cells separate from the parent organism?

The term that describes the growth of tissues or cells separate from the parent organism is tissue culture. Tissue culture is a set of techniques used to grow cells or tissues in a controlled environment, typically outside of the organism, under sterile conditions. This method is often employed in agricultural research and plant breeding to cultivate plants, regenerate tissues, and produce clones of plants without the need for seeds.

This process allows researchers to observe and manipulate the growth of plant tissues, as well as to produce genetically identical plants. It has a wide range of applications, including the propagation of rare or endangered species, disease study, and genetic engineering. Because tissue culture grows cells in isolation from their usual matrix or environment, it enables the study of individual cellular behaviors and growth patterns, providing valuable insights for both agriculture and biotechnology.

The other options refer to different biological processes that do not specifically denote the separation of tissues from the parent organism in the same way. Stem cell division pertains to the process by which stem cells replicate and differentiate, whole plant regeneration refers to the process by which an entire plant is regenerated from a part of the parent plant (not merely tissue), and gene cloning involves creating copies of specific genes rather than entire tissues or cells.