Abstract
Wheat zygotes can be mechanically isolated and cultivated to continue their development in vitro. Since each zygote needs to be individually isolated, only relatively few of these cells are available per experiment. To facilitate embryonic growth despite of this limitation, the zygotes are kept within a culture insert placed in a larger dish which itself contains embryogenic pollen cocultivated for continuous medium conditioning. This setup ensures that the two cultures, while being physically separated from one another, can exchange essential intercellular signal molecules passing through the bottom of the insert which is made of a permeable membrane. Thanks to the natural fate of zygotes, which is to form an embryo followed by the generation of a plant, embryogenesis and plant regeneration are achieved at much higher efficiency as compared to other single-cell systems. While the method is largely independent of the genotype, it allows for the nondestructive observation, manipulation, and individual analysis of zygotes and very young embryos.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Holm PB, Knudsen S, Mouritzen P, Negri D, Olsen FL, Roué C (1994) Regeneration of fertile barley plants from mechanically isolated protoplasts of the fertilized egg cell. Plant Cell 6:531–543
Leduc N, Matthys-Rochon E, Rougier M, Mogensen L, Holm P, Magnard J-L, Dumas C (1996) Isolated maize zygotes mimic in vivo embryonic development and express microinjected genes when cultured in vitro. Dev Biol 177:190–203
Kumlehn J, Lörz H, Kranz E (1998) Differentiation of isolated wheat zygotes into embryos and normal plants. Planta 205:327–333
Zhang J, Dong WH, Galli A, Potrykus I (1999) Regeneration of fertile plants from isolated zygotes of rice (Oryza sativa). Plant Cell Rep 19:128–132
Kranz E, Lörz H (1993) In vitro fertilization with isolated, single gametes results in zygotic embryogenesis and fertile maize plants. Plant Cell 5:739–746
Kovács M, Barnabas B, Kranz E (1995) Electro-fused isolated wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) gametes develop into multicellular structures. Plant Cell Rep 15:178–180
Uchiumi T, Uemura I, Okamoto T (2007) Establishment of an in vitro fertilization system in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Planta 226:581–589
Kumlehn J, Lörz H, Kranz E (1999) Monitoring individual development of isolated wheat zygotes: a novel approach to study early embryogenesis. Protoplasma 208:156–162
Sprunck S, Baumann U, Edwards K, Langridge P, Dresselhaus T (2005) The transcript composition of egg cells changes significantly following fertilization in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Plant J 41:660–672
Ohnishi Y, Hoshino R, Okamoto T (2014) Dynamics of male and female chromatin during karyogamy in rice zygotes. Plant Physiol 165:1533–1543
Dresselhaus T, Hagel C, Lörz H, Kranz E (1996) Isolation of a full-length cDNA encoding calreticulin from a PCR library of in vitro zygotes of maize. Plant Mol Biol 31:23–34
Leljak-Levanic D, Juranic M, Sprunck S (2013) De novo zygotic transcription in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) includes genes encoding small putative secreted peptides and a protein involved in proteasomal degradation. Plant Reprod 26:267–285
Sun MX, Zhao J, Xin HP, Qu LH, Ning J, Peng XB, Yan TT, Ma LG, Li SS (2011) Dynamic changes of transcript profiles after fertilization are associated with de novo transcription and maternal elimination in tobacco zygote, and mark the onset of the maternal-to-zygotic transition. Plant J 65:131–145
Abiko M, Maeda H, Tamura K, Hara-Nishimura I, Okamoto T (2013) Gene expression profiles in rice gametes and zygotes: identification of gamete-enriched genes and up- or downregulated genes in zygotes after fertilization. J Exp Bot 64:1927–194
Holm PB, Olsen O, Schnorf M, Brinch-Pedersen H, Knudsen S (2000) Transformation of barley by microinjection into isolated zygote protoplasts. Transgenic Res 9:21–32
Kumlehn J, Brettschneider R, Loerz H, Kranz E (1997) Zygote implantation to cultured ovules leads to direct embryogenesis and plant regeneration of wheat. Plant J 12:1473–1479
Kumlehn J, Serazetdinova L, Hensel G, Becker D, Loerz H (2006) Genetic transformation of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) via infection of androgenetic pollen cultures with Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Plant Biotechnol J 4:251–261
Chu CC (1978) The N6 medium and its applications to anther culture of cereal crops. Proc. of the symposium plant tissue culture. Science Press, Beijing, China, pp 43–50
Kao KN, Michayluk MR (1975) Nutritional requirements for growth of Vicia hajastana cells and protoplasts at a very low population density in liquid media. Planta 126:105–110
Gamborg OL, Miller RA, Ojima K (1968) Nutrient requirements of suspension cultures of soybean root cells. Exp Cell Res 50:151–158
Kumlehn J, Kirik V, Czihal A, Altschmied L, Matzk F, Lörz H, Bäumlein H (2001) Parthenogenetic egg cells of wheat: cellular and molecular studies. Sex Plant Reprod 14:239–243
Acknowledgment
I would like to thank my colleague Dr. Maia Gurushidze for critically reading the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this protocol
Cite this protocol
Kumlehn, J. (2016). Embryogenesis and Plant Regeneration from Isolated Wheat Zygotes. In: Germana, M., Lambardi, M. (eds) In Vitro Embryogenesis in Higher Plants. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1359. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3061-6_29
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3061-6_29
Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3060-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3061-6
eBook Packages: Springer Protocols