Q.What is called Somatic Hybridization ?

Somatic hybridization fuses protoplasts from two plants' body cells to create a hybrid, sidestepping sexual incompatibility.

In somatic hybridization, somatic (vegetative) plant cells -- rather than gametes -- from two chosen parent plants are first treated with cell-wall-digesting enzymes (such as cellulase and pectinase) to strip away the rigid cell wall and yield naked protoplasts. Protoplasts from the two different parents are then brought together and induced to fuse, typically using a chemical fusogen such as polyethylene glycol (PEG) or by applying a brief electric pulse (electrofusion), producing a single fused cell containing the combined nuclear and cytoplasmic genetic material of both parents. This hybrid cell is cultured on an appropriate nutrient medium, where it regenerates a new cell wall, divides, and can be regenerated through tissue culture into a complete hybrid plant. Because the technique bypasses the normal barriers of sexual reproduction (such as cross-incompatibility betw …