Plant Regeneration from Cell Suspension Protoplasts of Two Iranian Japonica Rice Cultivars and Ploidy Level of Regenerated Plants

An efficient system has been developed for the reproducible regeneration of plants from cell suspension-derived protoplasts of the two commercial Iranian Japonica rice cultivars Tarom and Khazer. Friable embryogenic calli were used for cell suspension initiation and protoplasts were isolated from both varieties. When embedded in agarose, protoplasts failed to divide. However, sustained divisions were obtained by using nurse cells of Lolium moltiflorum. Plant regeneration was 21.1% and 10.5% for Tarom and Khazer, respectively. Somaclonal variation was observed amongst regenerated plants, 16.2% of regenerants were tetraploid, and the rest were diploid