Abstract: Using tissue culture selection techniques, variants resistant to S-(2-aminoethyl)-L-cysteine (AEC) and 5-methyltryptophan(5MT) were, respectively, isolated from Opaque-2 maize inbred line “Zhongxi 037/02” and “Zhongxi 091/02”. After growing 5 months on AEC free medium, the AEC-resistant cell line (Raec) still showed high level AEC resistance which was 4 times. higher than that of its wild type, “Zhongxi 037/02”. The resistance was expressed at the plant level. New cultures initiated from shoot tissue of plants regenerated from Raec was also resistant to AEC inhibition. The free pool of lysine, threonine, isoleucine, methionine and arginine increased 0.5–3.4 fold in Raec culture. The aspartokinase from both AEC-resistant and -sen- sitive lines exhibited similar sensitivity to lysine and AEC inhibition. But the aspartokinase activity in the resistant line was 2.3 times of that in sensitive line. Seed were obtained from the plants resistant to AEC when crossed with pollen of sensitive plants. The resistance of 5MT-resistant cell line, tested after growth for 11 months on nonselection medium, was 3.5 times higher than that of its wild type, “Zhongxi 091/02”. The 5MT-resistance was possibly due to the accumulation of free tryptophan (from 0 to 61.6 nmol/g fr. wt) in the resistant cells. There was also an increase in free phenylalanine (14.5 fold) and tyrosine (28.8 fold).

Key words: Maize(Zea mays L.), Tissue culture, AEC resistance, Aspartokinase activity, 5MT resistance