EFFECTIVE CHEMICAL MUTAGENESIS PROCEDURE FOR PETUNIA-HYBRIDA CELL-SUSPENSION CULTURES

By using mercury(II)-chloride (HgCl2) and Dl-6-fluorotryptophan (6FT) as positive selection conditions we were able to show that N-methyl-N′-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NG) is an effective mutagen for Petunia hybrida suspension cells. A number of the 205 calli resistant to HgCl2 and 17 calli resistant to 6FT were isolated. The highest mutation frequency was 1.0 x 10-5 and 2.0 x 10-6 for HgCl2 and 6FT, respectively. A preliminary characterization of the mutants is presented. A significant increase in the number of drug-resistant calli was only obtained at NG-concentrations (5-40 μg/ml) that had no observable effect on the survival of the mutagenized cultures. © 1979 Springer-Verlag.