Suspension cultures of higher plant cells in synthetic media

Abstract

The cultivation of cells from higher plants is a technical advance in plant tissue culture research which opens new avenues of investigation into cellular and physiological problems. Successful culture of higher plant cells as suspensions in liquid media of complex constitution has been reported by several research groups. Isolated cells or cell suspensions produced in culture have been used in a variety of problems, including the study of cell division [Muir et al, (9, 10); deRopp (5); Torrey (18); Steward et al, (16); Braun, (4) ; Jones et al, (7)], susceptibility of tissues to virus infection [Hildebrandt, (6) ; Bergmann, (2)], cellular differentiation [Steward et al, (15); Reinert, (12)], the production of cell metabolites [Tulecke & Nickell, (21)]. Still many problems remain untouched. The production of cell suspensions has been achieved to date only with complex nutrients such as coconut milk, yeast extract, or other complex media, which limit the usefulness of the technique, especially where analysis of chemical changes is desired. Our purpose is to report relatively simple techniques devised to allow the cultivation of large numbers of isolated viable cells in suspension under defined nutrient and cultural conditions. We give an account of the course of development of liquid cultures with respect to increases in fresh weight and numbers of cells in suspension.