Nuclear-organelle interaction in Solanum: interspecific cybridizations and their correlation with a plastome dendrogram.

Alloplasmic compatibility, namely the functional interaction between the nuclear genome of a given species with plastomes and chondriomes of alien species, is of considerable relevance in plant biology. The genus Solanum encompasses a wide spectrum of species and is therefore suitable for a study of this compatibility. We thus chose the nuclear genome of Solanum tuberosum (potato) and organelles (chloroplast and mitochondria) from 14 other Solanum species to initiate an investigation of intrageneric nucleus/organelle interactions. An assessment of the diversity of the chloroplast DNAs from these 15 species resulted in the construction of a plastome dendrogram (phylogenetic tree). In parallel we extended a previous study and performed ten additional fusion combinations by the "donor-recipient protoplast fusion" procedure, using potato protoplasts as recipients and protoplasts from any of ten other Solanum species as donors. We found that two fusion combinations did not yield cybrids and that the chloroplasts of S. polyadenium and the mitochondria (or mitochondrial components) from S. tarijense could not be transferred to cybrids bearing potato nuclei. In general, there is a correlation, albeit not perfect, between the cybridization data and the plastome dendrogram. These results furnish valuable information toward future transfer of plasmone-encoded breeding traits from wild Solanum species into potato. This information should also be useful for the planning of asymmetric protoplast fusion between potato and wild accessions for the improvement of pathogen and stress resistance of potato cultivars.