VALINE-RESISTANCE, A POTENTIAL MARKER IN PLANT CELL GENETICS. II. OPTIMIZATION OF UV MUTAGENESIS AND SELECTION OF VALINE-RESISTANT COLONIES DERIVED FROM TOBACCO MESOPHYLL PROTOPLASTS

ABSTRACT The induction and selection of valine-resistant mutants from haploid tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) mesophyll protoplast-derived cells have been studied. Using cells from an original mutant plant obtained previously, we performed reconstruction experiments in order to determine the best conditions for the recovery of resistant cells among a population of sensitive cells. Optimal selective conditions were shown to depend on various factors including cell density, time of addition of valine and seasonal variations affecting the mother plants.—Using cell densities of approximately 104 cells/ml, we defined efficient selective conditions: more than 25% of the putative mutant clones selected from UV-mutagenized protoplasts were reproducibly confirmed to be valine resistant. Further characterization of some regenerated mutant plants indicated that valine-resistance was associated with an uptake deficiency, as in the case of the original mutant plant of the Valr-2 line used for reconstruction experiments. Spontaneous mutation rates for valine-resistance were below accurately detectable levels, i.e., less than 10-6 per cell per generation. Induced mutation frequency varied nonlinearily with UV dose from 10-5 to 5 × 10-4 resistant clones per surviving colony. Two independent loci (vr2 and vr3) were previously shown to be involved in valine-resistance due to amino acid uptake deficiency. Haploid tobacco plants were produced through anther culture from an F1 double-heterozygous plant obtained from a cross between the original mutant plant and a wild-type plant. Study of the level of resistance to valine of protoplast-derived cells allowed the classification of these haploid plants in four types: sensitive, resistant and two intermediary resistant types believed to result from the presence of a mutant allele at only one of the two loci involved. The frequencies of UV-induced mutations in cells derived from haploid plants of one of the intermediary types were compared to those observed in wild-type cells. The results are considered in light of the amphidiploid structure of the tobacco genome.