Somatic hybridization between Lycopersicon esculentum and Lycopersicon pennellii

Selection and screening methods were devised which resulted in the identification of a number of somatic hybrid callus clones following fusion of Lycopersicon esculentum protoplasts and L. pennellii suspension culture protoplasts. Visual selection for callus morphology combined with a high fusion frequency and irradiation of one parental protoplast type ((137)Cs source, 1.5 Krads) resulted in selection of a callus clone population containing a high proportion of somatic hybrids. Analysis of a dimeric isozyme for the presence of a heterodimeric form was found to be satisfactory for distinguishing parental-type calli, somatic hybrid calli, and mixed calli derived from both types of unfused parental cells. No somatic hybrid calli produced shoots, although the sexual hybrid between L. esculentum and L. pennellii regenerated well under the culture conditions employed. This result suggests that the non-regenerable growth habit of the L. pennellii suspension culture was dominant in the somatic hybrid. The culture conditions described here are suitable for obtaining regenerated plants from L. esculentum mesophyll protoplasts. L. esculentum protoplast calli from fusion cultures gave rise to shoots with L. esculentum phenotype at higher frequency than calli from control unfused L. esculentum mesophyll protoplast cultures. The use of probes for species-specific organelle DNA fragments allowed identification of organelle DNA restriction fragments in digests of total DNA from small samples of individual callus clones. The callus clones analyzed either carried predominantly one parental plastid DNA type or mixtures of both types. Use of a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) probe which distinguishes two parental mtDNA fragments revealed that the L. pennellii-specific fragment was present in all clones examined, but the L. esculentum fragment was absent or in low proportion.