Haploid protoplasts: pollen protoplasts

Abstract

The experimental significance of haploid protoplasts requires no explanation, and their biological potential was well reviewed by Bajaj (1983) about 10 years ago. Since the totipotency of haploid cells of higher plants was first demonstrated by the production of haploids derived from pollen grains in anther culture (Guha and Maheshwari, 1964), many attempts to isolate and culture haploid cells and their protoplasts have been made (Reinert et al., 1975; Nitsch, 1977; Bajaj, 1983). The successful culture of haploid protoplasts for the induction of haploid plants would enable efficient selection for mutations, development of transgenic plants by the transfer of foreign genes, and formation of hybrids by haploid protoplast fusion, as with diploid protoplasts (Carlson, 1973; Melchers et al., 1978; Krens et al., 1982). The application of modern biotechnological techniques to haploid cells including gametes would clearly be more useful in plant breeding than the application of such techniques to diploid somatic cells.