Analysis of Higher Plants by Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting

This chapter discusses the process of development of flow cytometry and cell sorting procedures for the analysis of higher plant cells. The development of the flow cytometry and cell sorting technologies provides the ways in which the acquisition of unique information about populations of cells and subcellular organelles, coupled to the manipulation of these populations in a manner not possible using other techniques, can significantly augment the understanding of the molecular organization of living cells. A fundamental aspect of instrumentation used in flow cytometry and cell sorting centers is based on the optical properties of populations of individual cells suspended within a high-velocity fluid stream. The principle type of measurement made with flow cytometers involves the detection and quantitation of fluorescence. The characteristics and attributes that are unique to plant systems are: (1) the direct isolation of rare mutant or variant types, including those possessing enhanced capabilities for embryogenesis and those exhibiting altered photosynthetic activities, (2) the isolation of mutant or variant gametophytes, such as pollen at the microspore level, and (3) the isolation of transformed protoplasts in vivo.