CULTURE OF ALBINO TOBACCO PROTOPLASTS TREATED WITH POLYETHYLENE-GLYCOL TO INDUCE CHLOROPLAST INCORPORATION

Albino leaf protoplasts of Nicotiana tabacum, cv. Turkish Samsun, were treated with 29% polyethylene glycol in the presence of Nicotiana excelsior chloroplasts to induce chloroplast uptake. The protoplasts could not be recovered from the polyethylene glycol medium by either flotation or sedimentation. They did, however, divide and grow into colonies when the polyethylene glycol was diluted to concentrations of 3.5% or less. Careful regulation of the population densities of protoplasts and chloroplasts during polyethylene glycol treatment was necessary to ensure the survival of the protoplasts. Plantlets were regenerated from callus derived from albino protoplast populations in which chloroplast incorporation was observed. While some of these plantlets were pale green, none was capable of autotrophic growth. © 1979.