Intergeneric Somatic Hybridization between Nicotiana tabacum and petunia hybrida

Mesophyll protoplatsts of Nicotina tabacum and Petunia hybrida were electrofused with AC field of 0.5 MHz and 1kV DC pulse for 2 ms. Fused protoplasts were selected and cultured to induce the green cell clusters in MSNO3medium. forty two plant lines were selected and regenerated among the green cell clusters. Among them three regenerated hybrid plant lines between N. tabacum and P. hybrida had an intermediate froral and leaf morphology when compared to the parents. When the polymerase chain reaction products were digested by Pst1 and Xho1 and hybridized with BamH1-1 and -3 probes, the restriction patterns of chloroplast DNA of the three hybrids were quite similar to those of both parents. Chromosome analysis was also conducted in somatic hybrid lines and it was confirmed as somatic hybrids. Theree intergeneric hybrid lines showed a chromosome number as somatic hybrids. Three intergeneric hybrid lines showed a chromosome number of 2n=54, 2n=56 and 2n=58 respectively, which were less than the expected number, 2n=62