Tissue culture is also commonly used to remove viruses from infected plants. This is a common technique used for removing viruses from infected orchid and rose species. To remove a virus from a plant using tissue culture, a very small growing shoot, called a meristem, is removed from the infected plant. Because viruses are most commonly found on older tissues, this younger meristem tends not to be infected. The
meristem tissue is then grown to regenerate the adult plant.