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- Title
Hidden history of the tobacco BY-2 cell line.
- Authors
Nagata, Toshiyuki
- Abstract
For almost 50 years, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) BY-2 cells have been widely recognized as an important cell line for plant biology. The cell line grows rapidly, can be synchronized to a high degree, and is excellent for imaging; over the years, these features have led to many high-impact discoveries. However, certain other uses of this cell line are virtually unknown. In the early days, I was involved in distributing the cells to laboratories around the world. Many of these scientists wanted to study the cell cycle; however, I also distributed the cells to scientists who were elucidating the mechanism of plant transformation by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. In fact, BY-2 cells played an essential role in the identification and analysis of Vir genes on the Ti plasmid; likewise, the cells were important for discovering the factor that induces the expression of Vir genes. Thus, BY-2 cells were crucial for the development of modern plant biotechnology. Here, I recount the story of how this came to pass and explain why the use of BY-2 cells in this work was never recognized.
- Subjects
CELL lines; PLANT genetic transformation; AGROBACTERIUM tumefaciens; TOBACCO; PLANT biotechnology; PLASMIDS
- Publication
Journal of Plant Research, 2023, Vol 136, Issue 6, p781
- ISSN
0918-9440
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10265-023-01490-4