USES OF ISOLATED PROTOPLASTS IN PLANT GENETICS

Protoplasts may be isolated from a wide range of fungal and green plant species. In many of these, protoplasts can be induced to regenerate, and to give either plants directly, or cell cultures, which may in turn subsequently give rise to plants. Fusion of protoplasts can be induced by a variety of agents, and it may be possible to select hybrid cell lines or plants following treatment of mixtures of protoplasts. Hybrid selection procedures include direct visual selection using fusion partners which are morphologically distinct, and various procedures which involve the use of complementing mutant strains.Somatic hybridisation following protoplast fusion has led to the selection of novel hybrids, not obtainable by sexual hybridisation, and has made possible the genetic analysis of sexually sterile strains. It also provides a unique method of studying cytoplasmic inheritance in higher plants, and allows the construction of strains having new combinations of nuclear and cytoplasmic genomes.Isolated protoplasts are likely to be excellent material for mutagenic treatment and because they take up a wide range of material, they are also valuable in a variety of genetic techniques, aimed at the transfer of specific genetic information into plant species. Protoplasts have been utilised in the experiments leading to transformation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. © 1979 The Genetical Society of Great Britain.