Electrofusion of Plant Protoplasts for Hybrid Plant Production

Electrofusion has been applied to plant protoplasts with the production of a range of fusion products. These include symmetric hybrids, such as somatic hybrids between Solanum brevidens and potato, asymmetric hybrids (e.g., of tomato or tobacco), and the production of cybrids, in which only the organelles (chloroplasts, mitochondria) are transferred. The control of the fusion processes that can be achieved by electrofusion makes this approach preferable to chemical fusion procedures, particularly where delicate protoplasts are involved.