Plant Cell Lines in Cell Morphogenesis Research - Plant Cell Morphogenesis: Methods and Protocols - page 207

external factors (morphoregulatory cues, xenobiotics, etc.), was
the suspension culture of sycamore ( Acer pseudoplatanus L.;
ref. [ 3 ]). This culture was still mostly composed of aggregates of
various size (containing 10 to more than 100 cells), but these cells
exhibited high viability and uniformity of both their size and shape.
It also demonstrated general stability of its phenotype (“micromor-
phology”) during long-term (more than 5 years) cultivation.
The fi rst genuine “plant cell line,” i.e., the clone of somatic
plant cells, growing both on agar and in suspension culture, and
composed of only free cells and small cell fi les or aggregates con-
taining max. of 10-20 cells, was derived in 1967 from the stem
pith of adult plants of Nicotiana tabacum L. Having originated
from callus of cv. V irginia B right I talia, it was named VBI-0 accord-
ingly [ 4 , 5 ]. This cell line has been unique not only owing to its
permanent and spontaneous high friability but also due to its
strictly polar character of both cell division and elongation.
Consequently, its cell aggregates are in fact cell fi les (fi laments) of
various lengths. The phenotype of the cell population is typical and
distinct for individual phases of the subculture interval (SBI).
Inocula taken from the stationary phase are composed of elon-
gated free cells or cell couples. Their stepwise division during
exponential phase results in formation of cell fi les, in which the
shape of individual cells is cylindrical with roughly the same diam-
eter and length. Beginning of the stationary phase is indicated by
the end of cell division, gradual cell elongation, and stepwise disin-
tegration of the long fi les into free interphasic cells and cell cou-
ples. However, the routine use of VBI-0 cell line is to some extent
handicapped by its strict dependence on the precise (standard) cul-
tivation regime.
Roughly 15 years later, the fi rst plant “HeLa-like” cell line was
reported [ 6 ], derived from the callus culture of another Nicotiana
tabacum L. cultivar, Bright Yellow 2, and again named accordingly,
i.e., BY-2. Its phenotype almost copies the abovementioned prop-
erties of VBI-0 cell line. However, in contrast to this line and prob-
ably as a consequence of its previously intended use as the
“industrial cell line” for the production of tobacco biomass, it
exhibits enormous growth (i.e., cell multiplication) rate, resistant
to various forms of the cultivation stress. Due to this property,
BY-2 cells can be also transformed effi ciently, and this is another
characteristic making them a very useful model for plant research.
Consequently, tobacco BY-2 cell line represents the most widely
used single-cell-based plant experimental model, the usefulness of
which is, among other things, documented also by the two BY-2-
related monographies [ 7 , 8 ]. Nevertheless, some properties of the
VBI-0 cell line surpass those of BY-2, and that is why in some types
of research, either VBI-0 cell line is used preferentially or both
these model cell lines are used simultaneously [ 9 - 15 ].