Summary
The first successful culture, with sustained divisions, of protoplasts from intact plants of Zea mays is described. The method involves the use of a hanging microdrop array technique which permits the testing of very large numbers of different culture media and hormone variations. Several different phytohormone combinations were found to allow sustained divisions in protoplasts isolated from stem tissue of corn plants, suggesting the importance of the source of the protoplasts rather than specific medium conditions. In some cases more than 5% of the protoplasts divided, giving macroscopic calluses within 35 days.
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Communicated by G. Melchers
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Potrykus, I., Harms, C.T., Lörz, H. et al. Callus formation from stem protoplasts of corn (Zea mays L.). Molec. Gen. Genet. 156, 347–350 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00267191
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00267191