Somatic hybridization between two cultivars of lettuce, Evola and Red Leaf
Amboni green and red, respectively, were carried out at Plant Science
Laboratory, University of Nottingham, UK during 2006-7 to test the culture of
fused protoplasts via polyethylene glycol (PEG) and electro-fusion on four
types of media as treatments under five replications. Both cultivars of L.
sativa L. (cvs. Evola and Red Leaf Amboni) were selected on the basis of
colours (green & red) and high germination rate in vitro for the isolation of
protoplasts. Protoplasts were isolated by removal of the cell wall via
enzymatic degradation. For Isolation of protoplasts, 4-10 days old seedlings
were harvested from in vitro cultures and cotyledons were plasmolized in
CPW9M or CPW13M salt solutions for 30mins.