Selection and partial characterization of a boron-tolerant tobacco cell line

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Abstract
A boron-tolerant line from normal tobacco cells (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Burley 21) in suspension culture was selected. Selection procedure enabled to obtain relatively detached and elongated, thin-walled cells, that could grow on media containing high concentrations of B. In the treatment with toxic concentrations of B, the whole cell B content of the B-tolerant (BT) line was lower than that of nontolerant cells, suggesting that lowering the level of B uptake is one of the mechanisms of tolerance of this line. In both lines, along with the increase of the B supply, more than 70% of cellular B was found in the water-soluble fraction. Lower amounts of water-soluble B in the boron-treated BT cells compared to that of the nontolerant line suggested that tolerance to excess B might be related to the lower level of B accumulation in the symplasm. Comparison of uronic acid contents of both lines before and after treatment with excess amounts of B, did not show any substantial correlation between the wall B accumulation and the amounts of uronic acids.