Plant regeneration from protoplasts of cytoplasmic male sterile lines of rice (Oryza sativa L.).

This study compared plant regeneration from protoplasts isolated from suspension cultures of threeJaponica rice (Oryza sativa L.) lines with different male sterile cytoplasms. More than 180 green plants were regenerated from protoplasts from 5-8 month old suspensions of IR58024A, a line with the WA type of cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). About 40% of the calli recovered from protoplasts produced green plants. ShuangbaiA (BT type of CMS) and Tai2A (Dian I type of CMS), both from Zhejiang province of China, responded less well in culture. ShuangbaiA produced green plants from 6.6% of calli, although initial protoplast yield per gram fresh weight was higher than for IR58024A. Tai2A showed lower protoplast yield, and only 1.1% of the calli produced green plants. Flow cytometric analyses of nuclear DNA content indicated that many of the regenerated plants were tetraploid. The percentage of tetraploids varied in the different lines. The male sterile characteristics of the original lines were maintained in the regenerated plants. Pollen abortion occured earliest in IR58024A and latest in Tai2A. IR58024A is a promising rice genotype for use as a recipient in direct gene transfer experiments.