Plant regeneration from intergeneric somatic hybridization between Triticum aestivum L. and Leymus chinensis (Trin.) Tzvel

The suspension derived protoplasts of wheat (Triticum aestivum) cv. Jinan 177 were used as a recipient to fuse with the protoplasts of the ⁶⁰Co gamma-ray irradiated calli of Legmus chinensis. The wheat suspension cells and their protoplasts were not capable of differentiating to whole plants. The irradiated calli of L. chinensis were also the same. The protoplasts originated from the treated or untreated calli were both unable to divide under the conditions of this experiment. However, the fusion products grew and developed to whole plants which were identified as hybrids according to the analysis of chromosome, isozyme and morphology. The above result revealed that the lost regeneration capacity of both parents could be complementarily restored through somatic hybridization. This phenomenon also occurred with our work on Triticum aestivum (+) Haynaldia villosa, T. aestivum (+) Agropyron elongatum and T. aestivum (+) Psathyrostachys juncea.