FERTILE SOMATIC HYBRIDS BETWEEN F1 (LYCOPERSICON-ESCULENTUM X LYCOPERSICON-PERUVIANUM VAR. HUMIFUSUM) AND SOLANUM-LYCOPERSICOIDES

Many somatic hybrid plants between L. esculentum x L. peruvianum and S . lycopersicoides were obtained by symmetric electrofusion. Twenty put ative somatic hybrid plants were randomly selected and analyzed. The h ybrid nature of these plants was evaluated according to their morpholo gical characteristics and then confirmed by RAPD analysis. The nuclear genomes in the somatic hybrid plants contained three parental specifi c RAPD markers, using three random primers, Furthermore, the chloropla st genotype was analyzed using tobacco chloroplast DNA probes and spec ies-specific RFLPs. Out of 15 somatic hybrid plants, 10 plants inherit ed tomato chloroplast DNA and 5 plants S. lycopersicoides one. The num ber of chromosomes was varied, and more than half of the somatic hybri ds were aneuploid in tetraploid level and none of them developed flowe rs. However, euploid somatic hybrids predominantly consisted of highly fertile hexaploids and tetraploids which gave rise to many progenies.