Embryoid protoplasts

Protoplasts offer several advantages for metabolic studies. They provide a homogenous single-celled system and ensure the even distribution of precursors into the cell. The reaction products can be isolated more quickly and at higher purity. One of the main attractions of employing protoplasts for studying lipid metabolism is their ease of lysis. Organelles can be separated with minimal injury. The study of lipid metabolism in mesocarp and embryoid protoplasts of the oil palm is described. 

Incorporation of 0- acetate into lipids increased with the age of the mesocarp from which the protoplasts were derived and was maximum at 20 weeks. Embryoid protoplasts were more active than mesocarp protoplasts as seen by the higher incorporation of radioactive acetate into lipids at all three stages of embryoid development. (Table 1.)... 

Bergounioux, C., Freyssinet, G., and Gadal, P., Callus and embryoid formation from protoplasts of Helianthus annuus, Plant Cell Rep., 7, 437-440, 1988. 

For definitive testing of the totipotency concept, single cells or protoplasts must be picked axenically from the culture medium and placed on a suitable growing medium then through manipulation of the mineral, vitamin, amino acid, and hormonal components of the medium cause development of a tissue (usually callus) that gives rise to embryoids that in turn develop roots, stems. 

Protoplasts were isolated from oil palm mesocarp 16-20 weeks after anthesis,and embryoids at three stages of development a) Embryoids which had just differentiated from callus b) Embryoids just prior to shoot formation c) Very young shoots which had differentiated from embryoids. 

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