Plant Science

Analytical cytology has found a variety of important basic and applied applications in plant science. Techniques of flow cytometry and cell sorting have been employed for characterization of genome sizes and ploidy levels, construction of somatic hybrid plants, purification of individual plant chromosomes, isolation of individual cells and organelles containing transgene products, and analysis of various cellular metabolic and developmental characteristics. Confocal microscopy has provided the means to sensitively monitor expression and subcellular targeting of various different Fluorescent Proteins. Microarray technologies, originally devised for analysis of plant gene expression, now have provided the means to examine global genome regulation, notably circadian responses, and responses of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses.

The image to the right shows a tobacco protoplast expressing GFP after transfection, imaged using confocal microscopy.

David Galbraith, March 2001