In most cases the influence of the cytoplasmic type is not distinguished from biparental inherited traits. Moreover, cytoplasmic phenotypes only occur in combination with distinct nuclear backgrounds and thus hamper the recognition in further breeding work. In consequence breeders give contradictory empirical statements about the effects of the cytoplasmic complement. Unintended counterselection of distinct organellar types takes place, as long as the agronomical value of different cytoplasms remains unknown. Informations about these influences are valuable for selection in classical Breeding Research but also for somatic fusion hybrids. In potato, following determination of different cytoplasmic types, cytoplasmic, and in part maternal effects can be detected in at least three ways:

1.) Comparison of an existing pool of clones (4X cultivars) and di-haploids (2X breeding clones),

2.) Comparison of reciprocal populations, and

3.) Comparison of somatic hybrids containing different cp / mt configurations with nearly identical nuclear genomes.

Cytoplasmic  Effects

Analytic & Synthetic

Conventional  & Fusion

Cytoplasm in Line, Hybrid & Clone

Andreas Lössl

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Acknowledgements: The authors are grateful to Mr. A. Barth, Mrs. E. Gerick, Mr. C. Kornbauer and Mrs. Ammerseder for technical assistance. This work was supported by grants of the BMBF under the number 0310768.