title: Microbead encapsulation of living plant protoplasts: A new tool for the handling of single plant cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Understanding plant cell biomechanics has been hampered by a lack of appropriate experimental tools. Here we introduce a protocol for the incorporation of individual plant protoplasts into precisely sized agarose microbeads. This technology may lead to new ways to manipulate the physical and chemical microenvironment of individual plant cells.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Living protoplasts obtained from BY-2 tobacco suspension cultures were continuously incorporated into a stream of agarose microdroplets, collected in cooled mineral oil as gelled microbeads, and then transferred into liquid MS medium for culture. In this first report, we show that spherical microbeads containing living protoplasts can be easily generated in quantity and that these encapsulated cells continue to grow and divide.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Microbead encapsulation of protoplasts affords the opportunity to precisely control the physical microenvironment of individual plant cells. Ultimately, this method may help facilitate novel studies in plant biomechanics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of Vermont, 63 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, Vermont 05405 USA.
authors.forename: Matthew S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Grasso
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, University of Vermont, 63 Carrigan Drive, Burlington, Vermont 05405 USA.
authors.forename: Philip M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Lintilhac
keywords: biomechanics; microfluidics; protoplasts; single cell biomechanics