{{Technical, date=September 2010 Tobacco BY-2 cells is a

cell line An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism which would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cell ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae excl ...

cells Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...

, which was established from a

callus A callus is an area of thickened and sometimes hardened skin that forms as a response to repeated friction, pressure, or other irritation. Since repeated contact is required, calluses are most often found on the feet and hands, but they may o ...

induced on a

seedling A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (emb ...

of ''Nicotiana tabacum cv. BY-2'' (

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

Bright Yellow - 2 of the

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

Overview

Tobacco BY-2 cells are nongreen, fast growing

plant cell Plant cells are the cells present in green plants, photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Their distinctive features include primary cell walls containing cellulose, hemicelluloses and pectin, the presence of plastids with the capab ...

s which can multiply their numbers up to 100-fold within one week in adequate

culture medium A growth medium or culture medium is a solid, liquid, or semi-solid designed to support the growth of a population of microorganisms or cells via the process of cell proliferation or small plants like the moss ''Physcomitrella patens''. Differ ...

and good culture conditions. This

of tobacco is kept as a

cell culture Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. The term "tissue culture" was coined by American pathologist Montrose Thomas Burrows. This tec ...

and more specifically as

cell suspension culture A cell suspension or suspension culture is a type of cell culture in which single cells or small aggregates of cells are allowed to function and multiply in an agitated growth medium, thus forming a suspension. Suspension culture is one of the t ...

(a specialized population of cells growing in liquid medium, they are raised by scientists in order to study a specific biological property of a plant

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...

). In cell suspension cultures, each of the

s is floating independently or at most only in short chains in a culture

medium Medium may refer to: Science and technology Aviation * Medium bomber, a class of war plane * Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design Communication * Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data * Medium ...

. Each of the cells has similar properties to the others. The model plant system is comparable to

HeLa HeLa (; also Hela or hela) is an immortalized cell line used in scientific research. It is the oldest and most commonly used human cell line. The line is derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951, named after Henrietta ...

cells for

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

research. Because the organism is relatively simple and predictable it makes the study of biological processes easier, and can be an intermediate step towards understanding more complex

organisms In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells ( cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fu ...

. They are used by plant physiologists and

molecular biologist Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physic ...

s as a

model organism A model organism (often shortened to model) is a non-human species that is extensively studied to understand particular biological phenomena, with the expectation that discoveries made in the model organism will provide insight into the workin ...

. They are used as model systems for

higher plant Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They a ...

s because of their relatively high homogeneity and high growth rate, featuring still general behaviour of plant cell. The diversity of cell types within any part of a naturally grown

''(

in vivo Studies that are ''in vivo'' (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms or cells, usually animals, including humans, and p ...

)'' makes it very difficult to investigate and understand some general

biochemical Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology an ...

phenomena of living

s. The transport of a

solute In chemistry, a solution is a special type of homogeneous mixture composed of two or more substances. In such a mixture, a solute is a substance dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. If the attractive forces between the solvent ...

in or out of the cell, for example, is difficult to study because the specialized cells in a

multicellular organism A multicellular organism is an organism that consists of more than one cell, in contrast to unicellular organism. All species of animals, land plants and most fungi are multicellular, as are many algae, whereas a few organisms are partially uni ...

behave differently.

Cell suspension culture A cell suspension or suspension culture is a type of cell culture in which single cells or small aggregates of cells are allowed to function and multiply in an agitated growth medium, thus forming a suspension. Suspension culture is one of the t ...

s such as tobacco BY-2 provide good model systems for these studies at the level of a single

and its compartments because tobacco BY-2 cells behave very similarly to one another. The influence of neighbouring cells behavior is in the suspension is not as important as it would be in an intact plant. As a result any changes observed after a

stimulus A stimulus is something that causes a physiological response. It may refer to: *Stimulation **Stimulus (physiology), something external that influences an activity **Stimulus (psychology), a concept in behaviorism and perception *Stimulus (economi ...

is applied can be statistically correlated and it could be decided if these changes are reactions to the stimulus or just merely coincidental. In this moment BY-2 cells are relatively well understood and often used in research. This model plant system is especially useful for studies of

cell division Cell division is the process by which a parent cell divides into two daughter cells. Cell division usually occurs as part of a larger cell cycle in which the cell grows and replicates its chromosome(s) before dividing. In eukaryotes, there ...

cytoskeleton The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic network of interlinking protein filaments present in the cytoplasm of all cells, including those of bacteria and archaea. In eukaryotes, it extends from the cell nucleus to the cell membrane and is co ...

plant hormone Plant hormone (or phytohormones) are signal molecules, produced within plants, that occur in extremely low concentrations. Plant hormones control all aspects of plant growth and development, from embryogenesis, the regulation of organ size, pat ...

signaling, intracellular trafficking, and

organelle In cell biology, an organelle is a specialized subunit, usually within a cell, that has a specific function. The name ''organelle'' comes from the idea that these structures are parts of cells, as organs are to the body, hence ''organelle,'' th ...

differentiation.

References

*Nagata T, Nemoto Y, Hasezawa S (1992) ''Tobacco BY-2 cell line as the "HeLa" cell in the cell biology of higher plants.'' International Review of Cytology 132, 1-30

External links

What is BY-2
Transcriptome Analysis of BY2 project page. *Cell and Molecular Biology of Tobacco BY-2 cells

*The book compiling extensive knowledge on tobacco BY-2 cells

*The second book compiling extensive knowledge on tobacco BY-2 cells
Edited by Nagata, Toshiyuki; Matsuoka, Ken; Inzé, DirkTobacco BY-2 cell suspension proteome database
*Pectin hypothesis for Tobacco BY-2 cells. Why chains? 2,4-D promotes the formation of a protective gelatinous polysaccharide in cell wall. This knowledge is based on four concentrations of 2,4-D and comparison morphology of the sixth day of cultivation. Thus, 2,4-D is a stress factor in any quantity and cell division is unregulated. Thus, the results of all studies on plant suspensions are distorted. Therefore, all results of the studies on plant suspensions can be scratched. Katerina Muselikova, GLOBAL CHANGE RESEARCH INSTITUTE Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic
Tobacco BY-2 cells - Pectin hypothesis
Edited by Muselikova *Pectin hypothesis - successfully defended at Mendel University in Brno (2012), Czech Republic

Edited by Muselikova Plant cell lines Tobacco