ABSTRACT
In fungi, protoplasts can be defined as spherical cells whose chitinous cell walls have been removed by appropriate digestive enzymes (Bachmann and Bonner 1959). Based on the considerable literature that has accumulated over the past 40 years, protoplast studies in fungi can be divided in two main sections: (a) production of stable, complete protoplasts, and (b) use of protoplasts, for example, to obtain intact chromosomes, as partners in fusion studies, and as recipients of exogenously introduced DNA (a process termed as transformation). The successful applications of such protoplast manipulations has led to a better understanding of many biochemical, physiological, and genetic phenomena in fungi.
