Somatic fusion, also called protoplast fusion, is a type of genetic modification in plants by which two distinct species of plants are fused together to form a new hybrid plant with the characteristics of both, a somatic hybrid. Hybrids have been produced either between different varieties of the same species (e.g. between non-flowering potato plants and flowering potato plants) or between two different species (e.g. between wheat Triticum and rye Secale to produce Triticale).
Uses of somatic fusion include developing plants resistant to disease, such as making potato plants resistant to potato leaf roll disease. Through somatic fusion, the crop potato plant Solanum tuberosum &ndash; the yield of which is severely reduced by a viral disease transmitted on by the aphid vector &ndash; is fused with the wild, non-tuber-bearing potato Solanum brevidens, which is resistant to the disease. The resulting hybrid has the chromosomes of both plants and is thus similar to polyploid plants.
Somatic hybridization was first introduced by Carlson et al. in Nicotiana glauca.