A heterotrophic organism 1-2 billion years ago enslaved a cyanobacterium to become the first photosynthetic eukaryote, and has diverged globally. The primary phototrophs, glaucophytes, are thought to retain ancestral features of the first photosynthetic eukaryote, but examining the protoplast ultrastructure has previously been problematic in the coccoid glaucophyte Glaucocystis due to its thick...

Hybrid or polyploid clones of Saccharomyces cerevisiae produced by protoplast fusion were easily isolated by selecting transformants with the plasmid phenotype because the transformation was directly associated with cell fusion. When haploid cells were used as the original strain, the transformants were mostly diploids with a significant fraction of polyploids (triploids or tetraploids). Repeat...

the present study reports an efficient protocol for isolation and regeneration of protoplasts from callus of fritillaria imperialis l. there is no published method recommended for protoplast isolation and regeneration from fritillaria imperialis l. a range of factors, which influence the success of isolation and regeneration of f. imperialis protoplasts, were investigated. from the results obta...

The plant cell wall is a strong material that resists expansion when water is taken up by the protoplast; for cells to expand irreversibly, the existing wall architecture must be loosened to permit the insertion of newly synthesized wall polymers. Biochemical approaches have identified changes in wall composition that occur during growth and some of the enzymes involved in wall loosening, whils...

Brassica coenospecies has been bestowed with a large collection of wild and weedy relatives, which could act as donors of genes controlling agronomically important traits like disease resistance, yield attributes, modified fatty acid composition in the seed etc. Additionally, the cytoplasm of these species could be the sources for developing alloplasmic male sterility systems that are important...

It is now widely accepted that chromatin is a highly dynamic structure that participates in all DNA-related functions, including transcription, DNA replication, repair, and programmed cell death. Chromatin compaction influences plant regeneration and development. In plants, the most popular method of detecting chromatin compaction is immunofluorescence coupled with confocal microscopy. This met...

The cell wall is an important subcellular component of dinoflagellate cells with regard to various aspects of cell surface-associated ecophysiology, but the full range of cell wall proteins (CWPs) and their functions remain to be elucidated. This study identified and characterized CWPs of a toxic dinoflagellate, Alexandrium catenella, using a combination of 2D fluorescence difference gel electr...

In this study, mutant forms of Bacillus thuringiensis spp. israelensis (H14) were produced. These mutants were identified when the cells were cultured on chloramphenicol plates and stained with crystal violet. Protoplasts of the mutants were isolated by enzymatic digestion (lysozyme) of the cell walls at the presence of an osmotic stabilizer. The protoplasts were induced to fuse to each other i...

Insights into the Single-Cell Reproduction Cycle of Members of the Family Bromoviridae: Lessons from the Use of Protoplast Systems Joanna Sztuba-Solińska and Jozef J. Bujarski* Plant Molecular Biology Center and the Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Illinois University, De Kalb, Illinois 60115, and Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Noskowskiego 12/14, 61-7...

AIMS Different cultural conditions for forming and reverting protoplasts were systematically studied to establish a rapid and efficient protocol for Sclerotium rolfsii ATCC 201126. METHODS AND RESULTS Osmotic stabilizer, lytic enzymes and mycelial age were the main factors influencing protoplast yields. An optimized protocol involving 1-h hydrolysis of 45-h-old mycelium with Trichoderma harzi...