Yeast Protoplast Fusion

A major limitation to the results that could be achieved using traditional methods in the study of microbial genetics has been the barriers to fusion that exist both between isolates belonging to different species, and also often between different isolates of the same species. Thus a scientific worker may have obtained two varieties of fungi, each with their own desirable characteristics, but have been unable to combine the characteristics in a single organism. Even more severe barriers to genetic recombination were often found when working with bacteria.