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Publisher Summary This chapter presents a model for in vitro fertilization (IVF) using single plant gametes and the subsequent development of their fusion products, the zygotes. The frequency of fusion and high cell division rates allow this method to be used routinely, despite the relatively small amount of material that can be isolated. With a natural competence for differentiation, the artificially created zygotes might be useful for regeneration, contrary to cells of suspension, which often lose their regenerative capacity during prolonged in vitro culture. The chapter reviews free-living zygotes of algae to investigate polarization. The zygote of Fucus serves as a model system to study cellular polarity, which is formed within 16 hours after fertilization of the former symmetric fertilized egg. The pear-shaped maize egg cell is asymmetric before isolation from the polar environment of the embryo sac; both its shape and symmetry may be altered by the isolation procedure. The cell polarity of in vitro –produced zygotes may thus be triggered by external factors that force the undetermined zygote to enter an embryogenic pathway. |
