Studies on the Isolation, Culture and Fusion of Protoplasts from Plant Mesophyll and Cells Cultured in vitro

This study was conducted to investigate an effective method of protoplast isolation, the plating efficiency for cell division, and fusion of plant protoplasts by polyethylene glycol for somatic hybridzation. The effectiveness of protoplast isolation was different with the various enzyme concentrations, but, in the protoplast isolation from tobacco mesophyll, the enzyme solution with 0.5% macerozyme and 2.0% cellulase was very effective. The protoplast isolation from callus cultured in vitro for a long period was not obtained in any of the enzyme solution used. Protoplasts divided actively at cell densities above /ml and at under 12hr illumination by inflorecient light (l50 Lux), regardless of presence of agar. The highest frequency of protoplast fusion was obtained after treatment with a solution of 0.33 M polyethylene glycol 1500.