Citrus cybrid leaf essential oil

The essential oil from the leaves of a Citrus cybrid plant, obtained by som atic hybridization between 'Valencia' sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbe ck), embryogenic parent, and 'Femminello' lemon (C. limon L. Burm f.), leaf parent, has been studied by steam distillation and CC-MS analysis and comp ared with the correspondent oils from the parent plants. Although the overa ll composition of the cybrid essential oil appears much closer to that of ' Femminello', the relatively higher percentage of beta -caryophyllene, as we ll as the qualitative and quantitative modifications of the esteric fractio n, are characteristic of the new hybrid. Since cybrid cells possess the nuc lear genome of the mesophyll parent,'Femminello' lemon, acid the mitochondr ial genome of the nucellar parent,'Valencia' sweet orange, it seems possibl e to conclude that the genetic information coding for the biosynthesis of t he essential oils is mainly embedded in the nucleus, although interactions between nuclear genome and cytoplasmic genome can not be excluded. Copyrigh t (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.