Somatic fusion

[2] Through somatic fusion, the crop potato plant Solanum tuberosum – the yield of which is severely reduced by a viral disease transmitted on by the aphid vector – is fused with the wild, non-tuber-bearing potato Solanum brevidens, which is resistant to the disease.

[6] Of further note sodium nitrate and calcium ion at high pH can be used, although results are variable depending on the organism.

Generally, human fibrocytes or leucocytes are fused with mouse continuous cell lines.

Cell fusion is enhanced 100 to 1000 times by the addition of ultraviolet inactivated Sendai (parainfluenza) virus or polyethylene glycol (PEG).

These agents adhere to the plasma membranes of cells and alter their properties in such a way that facilitates their fusion.

Antimetabolite aminopterin blocks the cellular biosynthesis of purines and pyrimidines from simple sugars and amino acids.

However, normal human and mouse cells can still multiply as they can utilize hypoxanthine and thymidine present in the medium through a salvage pathway, which ordinarily recycles the purines and pyrimidines produced from degradation of nucleic acids.