Cell suspension cultures

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Switchgrass (Panicum Virgatum L.) Cell Suspension Cultures: Establishment, Characterization, And Application

Journal Title, Volume, Page: 
Plant Science, Volume 181, Issue 6, December 2011, Pages 712–715
Year of Publication: 
2011
Authors: 
Mitra Mazarei
Department of Plant Sciences, The University of Tennessee, 252 Ellington Plant Sciences, 2431 Joe Johnson Dr., Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Hani Al-Ahmad
Department of Plant Sciences, The University of Tennessee, 252 Ellington Plant Sciences, 2431 Joe Johnson Dr., Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Current Affiliation: 
Department of Biology & Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, An-Najah National University, Nablus. Palestine
Mary R. Rudis
Department of Plant Sciences, The University of Tennessee, 252 Ellington Plant Sciences, 2431 Joe Johnson Dr., Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Blake L. Joyce
Department of Plant Sciences, The University of Tennessee, 252 Ellington Plant Sciences, 2431 Joe Johnson Dr., Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
C. Neal Stewart Jr
Department of Plant Sciences, The University of Tennessee, 252 Ellington Plant Sciences, 2431 Joe Johnson Dr., Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
Preferred Abstract (Original): 

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) is a warm-season perennial grass that has received considerable attention as a potential dedicated biofuel and bioproduct feedstock. Genetic improvement of switchgrass is needed for better cellulosic ethanol production, especially to improve cellulose-to-lignin ratios. Cell suspension cultures offer an in vitro system for mutant selection, mass propagation, gene transfer, and cell biology. Toward this end, switchgrass cell suspension cultures were initiated from embryogenic callus obtained from genotype Alamo 2. They have been established and characterized with different cell type morphologies: sandy, fine milky, and ultrafine cultures. Characterization includes histological analysis using scanning electron microscopy, and utility using protoplast isolation. A high protoplast isolation rate of up to 106 protoplasts/1.0 g of cells was achieved for the fine milky culture, whereas only a few protoplasts were isolated for the sandy and ultrafine cultures. These results indicate that switchgrass cell suspension type sizably impacts the efficiency of protoplast isolation, suggesting its significance in other applications. The establishment of different switchgrass suspension culture cell types provides the opportunity to gain insights into the versatility of the system that would further augment switchgrass biology research.

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