The Isolation, Culture and Regeneration of Petunia Leaf Protoplasts'

Methods are described for the enzymatic release of protoplasts from leaves of Petunia hybrida and for the utilization of protoplasts in studies in plant developmental biology. As a result of spontaneous fusion during cell wall degradation of leaf material, fresh preparations can contain a high proportion of multinucleate protoplasts. This level can be dramatically reduced by a gradual plasmolysis of the material prior to enzyme incubation. Leaf protoplasts maintained in liquid media are seen to undergo cell wall synthesis, "budding," and limited regenerated cell division sometimes associated with anthocyanin production. Under such conditions, multinucleate cells are formed as a result of mitosis without cytokinesis. Protoplasts, plated out in a fully defined medium, undergo cell wall synthesis followed by sustained progeny cell division with eventual cell colony production. Cell colonies, derived from individual mesophyll protoplasts, grow rapidly upon subculture, to produce callus capable of shoot differentiation d ultimately whole plant formation. Protoplasts isolated from varieties of P. hybrida were found to differ in their cultural requirements.