Isolation of abscisic acid-resistant variants from tobacco cell cultures : II. Selection and characterization of variants.

Variant clones were isolated from Nicotiana silvestris Speg. et Comes cell cultures at low frequencies following severe abscisic-acid (ABA) or mannitol-induced water-stress treatments of plated cells. N. tabacum L. variants were not recovered. Variants from the ABA selection experiments exhibited a 10-fold increase in resistance to the hormone. This trait was stable in non-selective conditions for as long as was tested (200 days), but did not alter the response of the cells to water stress. Cell lines from the waterstress selection were not more resistant to mannitol than the parent line, and had a wide range of response to ABA.