Transfection by DNA-associated liposomes evidenced at pea pollination

Positively charged, oligolamellar liposomes were able to enter the pea pollen grains during the germination process in vitro. Large, identifiable liposomes could be found at a low frequency in living, germinated pollen grains and pollen tubes. Protoplasmic streaming inside the germinated pollen apparatus, where it appears as moving strands, exerts violent, formative effects on the liposomes. Uptake of cytoplasmic bodies by liposomes may be a sign of internalization. Pea pollen tube studied by autoradiography took up radioactivity from liposomes with labelled DNA and transferred radioactivity into the pollinated style of pistil. Application of DNA associated liposomes at the pollination of pea (Pisum sativum) induced putative transfectants in addition to immediate disturbances like sterility and parthenocarpy. The putative transfectant, 361A. behaves as a stable Mendelian recessive. It has pleiotropic effects on the phenotype, among which are three that also appear in the phenotype of the donor species, wild pea P . fulvimr.