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Electrofusion: The Technique and Its Application to Somatic Hybridization

  • Chapter
Plant Protoplasts and Genetic Engineering II

Part of the book series: Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry ((AGRICULTURE,volume 9))

Abstract

The use of electric fields for inducing protoplast fusion (electrofusion) has its origins in biophysical studies of cell membranes. However, recent work showing electrofusion to be simpler, quicker, and often more efficient than chemically induced fusion is attracting the interest of geneticists and tissue-culture practitioners. Indeed, electrofusion may become the fusion technique of choice for species whose cells exhibit a severe cytotoxic response to polyethylene glycol (PEG). Interest in this area has been further heightened by recent demonstrations that electric pulses can be used to introduce foreign DNA into plant cells (“electroporation”: Fromm et al. 1986; Riggs and Bates 1986). This chapter provides an overview of electrofusion and its application to plant somatic hybridization.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Science and Institute of Molecular Biophysics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-3015, USA

    G. W. Bates

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  1. G. W. Bates
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. A-137 New Friends Colony, 110065, New Delhi, India

    Y. P. S. Bajaj

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Bates, G.W. (1989). Electrofusion: The Technique and Its Application to Somatic Hybridization. In: Bajaj, Y.P.S. (eds) Plant Protoplasts and Genetic Engineering II. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, vol 9. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74454-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-74454-9_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-74456-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-74454-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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