EXPERIMENTAL PLANT REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY AND REPRODUCTIVE CELL MANIPULATION IN HIGHER PLANTS: NOW AND THE FUTURE

Abstract

Experimental plant reproductive biology has recently emerged as a new form of experimental embryology characterized by the direct experimental isolation and manipulation of reproductive cells and protoplasts. This work is fostered by current multidisciplinary trends in the sciences and serves to deepen our knowledge about the control of reproductive processes by providing novel in vitro material. The techniques of experimental plant reproductive biology also show great potential in providing new means for biotechnology, leading to significant refinements in plant breeding in higher plants that may eventually permit direct reproductive cell engineering. Recent achievements by our research group in experimental manipulation and biological studies of pollen protoplasts, generative cells, sperm cells, and embryo sacs are reviewed, and some ideas about future developments in this new area are presented.