XVI International Botanical Congess

After recovery from plasmolysis, many cells in fern gametophytes will regenerate into a new gametophyte. We tested the effects of plasmolysis on cell-cell transport, and whether inhibition of transport caused regeneration from component cells. With increasing plasmolysis of M. postulatum protonemata in mannitol solutions, there was increasing blockage of cell-cell transport. Reduced cell-cell transport was correlated with increased frequency of cell regeneration. However, only 47% of severely plasmolysed cells produced new protonemata, and occasionally there was one cell that had not formed a protonema between two cells that had. These results suggest that the mechanism inhibiting outgrowth in untreated protonemata may not be a signal from neighbouring cells, but may involve an interaction between the cell wall and plasma membrane of individual cells.