Flow Cytometry with Plant Cells

Targeted at both beginners and experienced users, this handy reference explains various applications and benefits of flow cytometry (FCM) in plant sciences. Following a general introduction and authentic account of the development of flow cytometry, this book goes on to discuss the applications in plant genetics, genomics, physiology, pathology and breeding. It describes the use of FCM in plant biosystematics and population biology as well as the analysis of phytoplankton. Whenever appropriate, the methodology is explained and potential sources of errors are highlighted, while the first database on plant DNA flow cytometry (FLOWer) is also introduced. With its broad scope encompassing environmental, cellular and sub-cellular levels, this first comprehensive work on the topic fills a real gap in the literature by providing first-hand practical hints for plant scientists. Jaroslav Dolezel is Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Cytogenetics and Cytometry at the Institute of Experimental Botany in Olomouc, and Associate Professor at the Department of Cell Biology and Genetics of Palack? University in Olomouc, Czech Republic. He is a pioneer of DNA flow cytometry in plants and his current interests include the analysis of plant genome structure and evolution at molecular level, and the application of chromosome flow sorting in genomics. Johann Greilhuber is Associate Professor affiliated with the Department of Systematic and Evolutionary Botany of the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Austria. He was one of the first to work on chromosome banding with a focus on taxonomic questions and since the mid-1970s has been increasingly concentrating on genome size variation in wild and cultivated plants, using densitometry and flow cytometry. While his special concern is the plant-specific technical problems in measuring DNA amounts, he is also interested in plant embryology. Jan Suda is Head of the Laboratory of Flow Cytometry at the Institute of Botany, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Pruhonice, and the Head of the Unit of Vascular Plants at the Department of Botany, Charles University in Prague. His research is primarily focused on the applications of cytometric techniques in biosystematics, ecology, phytogeography, and population biology of vascular plants (DNA ploidy and genome size determination).