The role of irradiation dose and DNA content of somatic hybrid calli in producing asymmetric plants between an interspecific tomato hybrid and eggplant

Highly asymmetric somatic hybrid plants were obtained by PEG/DMSO fusion of gamma-irradiated mesophyll protoplasts of the kanamycin-resistant (KmR⁺) interspecific hybrid Lycopersicon esculentum x L. pennellii (EP) with mesophyll protoplasts of Solanum melongena (eggplant, E). Elimination of the EP chromosomes was obtained by irradiating the donor genome with different doses of gamma rays (100, 250, 500, 750 and 1000 Gy). The selection of somatic hybrid calli was based on kanamycin resistance; EP and E protoplasts did not divide due to the irradiation treatment and sensitivity to kanamycin, respectively. KmR⁺ calli were recovered following all irradiation doses of donor EP protoplasts. The hybrid nature of the recovered calli was confirmed by PCR amplification of the NptII gene, RAPD patterns and Southern hybridizations using potato ribosomal DNA and pTHG2 probes. Ploidy levels of calli confirmed as hybrid were further analyzed by flow cytometry. Such analyses revealed that the vast majority of hybrid calli that did not regenerate shoots were 5–9n polyploids. The three asymmetric somatic hybrid plants obtained were regenerated only from callus with a ploidy level close to 4n, and such calli occurred only when the donor EP had been exposed to 100 Gy. The amount of DNA in somatic hybrid calli, from 100-Gy exposure, was found by dot blot hybridization with the species-specific probe, pTHG2, to be equivalent with 3.1–25.8% of the tomato genome. Thus, DNA contained in 3.8–13.2 average-size tomato chromosomes was present in these hybrid calli. The asymmetric somatic hybrid plants had the eggplant morphology and were regenerated from one hybrid callus that contained an amount of tomato DNA equivalent to 6.29 average-size tomato chromosomes.