It is our utmost pleasure to present a new book on tobacco BY-2 cells, Tobacco BY-2 Cells: From Cellular Dynamics to Omics, as the 58th volume in the book series Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry (BAF). It represents an ext- sion of the previous book Tobacco BY-2 Cells,vol. 53ofthe BAF. Moreover, the content is rather different from the latter and includes new topics, gleaned from the First International Symposium on Tobacco BY-2 Cells held at the Plant Science Center of the RIKEN, Yokohama, organized by Nagata, Matsuoka and Inze, in September 2004. To this symposium came more than 200 people from different parts of the world to discuss issues. Although most of the contributors to thepreviousvolumeof Tobacco BY-2 Cells gave talks on their subjects, there were many other speakers who presented new topics and approaches. So we enjoyed the symposium very much. Thus we decided to compile a new volume on tobacco BY-2 cells which includes these new topics. In addition, towards the end of the symposium, our common understanding was that the tobacco BY-2 cell system is still important in plant biology, in particular for studying the dynamic features of plant cells. We hope this volume is useful for plant biologists. Contents of the book are as follows: in Chapters I. 1-I. 6, various aspects of the cell cycle and cellular dynamics using BY-2 cells are described. In Ch- ters II. 1-II.

Cell Cycle and Cellular Dynamics

Novel Approaches for Cell Cycle Analysis in BY-2
Dynamics and Structure of the Preprophase Band and the Phragmoplast
Formation of Cortical Microtubules in a Cell-Free System Prepared from Plasma Membrane Ghosts and a Cytosolic Extract of BY-2 Cells
Chromosome Dynamics in Tobacco BY-2 Cultured Cells
Ion Channels Meet Cell Cycle Control
The NACK-PQR MAP Kinase Cascade Controls Plant Cytokinesis
Physiological and Developmental Aspects
Characterization of a Cell Division Factor from Auxin-Autotrophic 2B-13 Cells Derived from the Tobacco BY-2 Cell Line
The BY-2 Cell Line as a Tool to Study Auxin Transport
Tobacco BY-2 Cells as a Model for Differentiation in Heterotrophic Plant Cells
Intracellular Traffic
Imaging the Early Secretory Pathway in BY-2 Cells
Molecular Study of Prevacuolar Compartments in Transgenic Tobacco BY-2 Cells
Autophagy and Non-Classical Vacuolar Targeting in Tobacco BY-2 Cells
As a Host for Infectious Diseases
In Vitro Translation and Replication of Tobamovirus RNA in a Cell-Free Extract of Evacuolated Tobacco BY-2 Protoplasts
Using BY-2 Cells to Investigate Agrobacterium-Plant Interactions
Regulation of Elicitor-Induced Defense Responses by Ca2+ Channels and the Cell Cycle in Tobacco BY-2 Cells
Other Cellular Functions
Dynamic Mitochondria, their Fission and Fusion in Higher Plants
The Use of Tobacco BY-2 Cells to Elucidate the Biosynthesis and Essential Functions of Isoprenoids
Omics
Tobacco BY-2 Proteome Display, Protein Profiling and Annotation Using Two-Dimensional Electrophoresis and Mass Spectrometry-Based Cross-Species Identification
EST and Microarray Analysis of Tobacco BY-2 Cells
Proteomics of Tobacco Bright Yellow-2 (BY-2) Cell Culture Plastids
Technical Advances
Cryopreservation of Tobacco BY-2 Suspension Cell Cultures Using an Encapsulation - Simple Prefreezing Method
High Throughput Microinjection Technology for the Single-Cell Analysis of BY-2 in Vivo.