The toxicity of antibiotics to protoplast cultures of Triticum aestivum L

A cell suspension culture was established from an immature embryo-derived callus culture of Triticum aestivum cv Fundulea. This culture provided high yields of protoplasts which, at low plating densities (2.5–5.0 × 10 4/ml), could reestablish cell cultures. Low density cultures were required to measure reproducibly responses to a range of antibiotics. Cell division and plating frequencies were used to evaluate phytotoxic responses. The aminoglycoside antibiotics hygromycin, G418, bekanamycin and kanamycin were extremely toxic to the wheat cells (50% inhibition at 15 μg/ml). The least toxic antibiotics were vancomycin, spectinomycin and cefotaxime. Vancomycin (1000–2000 μg/ml) enhanced cell division and plating efficiencies two-fold indicating its potential for establishing protoplast cultures of recalcitrant species.