Citrus cybrid leaf essential oil

The essential oil from the leaves of a Citrus cybrid plant, obtained by somatic hybridization between ‘Valencia’ sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck), embryogenic parent, and ‘Femminello’ lemon (C. limon L. Burm f.), leaf parent, has been studied by steam distillation and GC–MS analysis and compared with the correspondent oils from the parent plants. Although the overall composition of the cybrid essential oil appears much closer to that of ‘Femminello’, the relatively higher percentage of β-caryophyllene, as well as the qualitative and quantitative modifications of the esteric fraction, are characteristic of the new hybrid. Since cybrid cells possess the nuclear genome of the mesophyll parent, ‘Femminello’ lemon, and the mitochondrial genome of the nucellar parent, ‘Valencia’ sweet orange, it seems possible to conclude that the genetic information coding for the biosynthesis of the essential oils is mainly embedded in the nucleus, although interactions between nuclear genome and cytoplasmic genome can not be excluded.