Somatic embryogenesis in plantain banana

A cell suspension of French Sombre plantain banane (#Musa# spp. AAB genome) was initiated from callus obtained from young male flowers. Histological examination enabled us to describe and follow the evolution of the suspension consisting of: embryogenic aggregates, proembryos, nodules, and isolated cells. It demonstrated the unicellular origin of somatic embryos, either during maintenance of the suspension or after plating on a semisolid medium. The cells from which the embryos originated had no starch but only protein reserves. Plating 1 ml of packed cells from the suspension led to the formation of "10 to the power of 5" embryos of which 10 to 40% could be converted into plantlets. (Résumé d'auteur