Although only about 3 years have passed since the preparation of the
original manuscript of this book for the Russian edition, the number of
successful experiments on somatic hybridization of higher plants has
doubled. Although the main inferences of the first edition still remain
in force, most of them have received conclusive experimental support
and, moreover, some new con- clusions have been drawn. It can be
expected that these inferences and conclusions will constitute a more or
less durable foundation for somatic cell genetics of higher plants. We
thus hope this book will also remain useful over the next years, in
spite of the rapid progress of experiments and the increase in the
number of scientific reports in this field. Though it might appear
strange to an uninvolved observer, the principal progress in
hybridization of somatic cells of higher plants has been due to plant
physiologists (who entered the field by elaborating methods and
techniques for plant cell and, later, for isolated protoplast culture)
rather than plant geneticists. However, further qualitative improvement
in this field is inconceivable without the instillation of genetic
ideology and the strict logic of genetic experiments. The main purpose
ofthis book is the attempt to organize the available experimental data
in terms and cate- gories of genetic analysis. For this reason, this
book lays no claim on being a comprehensive treatise on somatic
hybridization.