Production and characterization of somatic hybrid plants between leek (Allium ampeloprasum L.) and onion (Allium cepa L.)

 Results are reported on the production and characterization of somatic hybrids between Allium ampeloprasum and A. cepa. Both symmetric and asymmetric protoplast fusions were carried out using a polyethylene-based mass fusion protocol. Asymmetric fusions were performed using gamma ray-treated donor protoplasts of A. cepa and iodoacetamide-treated A. ampeloprasum protoplasts. However, the use of gamma irradiation to eliminate or inactivate the donor DNA of A. cepa proved to be detrimental to the development of fusion calli, and thus it was not possible to obtain hybrids from asymmetric fusions. The symmetric fusions yielded a high number of hybrid calli and regenerated plants. The analysis of the nuclear DNA composition using interspecific variation of rDNA revealed that most of the regenerated plants were hybrids. Flow cytometric analysis of nuclear DNA showed that these hybrid plants contained a lower DNA content than the sum of the DNA amounts of the parental species, suggesting that they were aneuploid. A shortage of chromosomes in the hybrids was confirmed by genomic in situ hybridization. Chromosome counts in metaphase cells of six hybrids revealed that these plants lacked 2–7 leek chromosomes. One hybrid showed also the loss of onion chromosomes. The hybrids had an intermediate phenotype in leaf morphology. The application of these somatic hybrids in breeding is discussed.