Question

Why are plants obtained by protoplast culture called somatic hybrids?

Answer 1

Protoplast:

Protoplast is the protoplasm of a living plant cell whose cell wall has been removed. Protoplasts of two different plant species are often fused for the purpose of developing hybrid plants.

Somatic hybridisation:

Somatic hybridisation is a technique of fusion of two protoplasts obtained from somatic cells of plants belonging to different species. Fusion is achieved either by electrofusion or by the use of chemicals such as polyethylene glycol.

Protoplast culture:

Once the wall appears around the fused protoplast or hybrid protoplast, it is cultured on a nutrient medium under controlled conditions to generate a plantlet which is a tiny plant having a root and a shoot. All the plantlets obtained from these tissue culture techniques are then transferred to the fields.

Somatic hybrids:

The resultant plant from the protoplast culture is obtained by the fusion of protoplasts of somatic cells and possesses a combination of characters of both the parent plants. Thus, it is known as a somatic hybrid.