Asymmetric somatic hybrids of Brassica: partial transfer of B. campestris genome into B. oleracea by cell fusion

Summary To examine the possibility of producing asymmetric somatic hybrids of Brassica having a complete genome of one species and a part of the other, we fused inactivated B. oleracea protoplasts with X-irradiated B. campestris protoplasts. The plants obtained were studied with regard to their morphology, isozymes and chromosomes. The morphology of the hybrids was similar to B. oleracea in 9 out of 22 hybrids studied and the rest showed the intermediate phenotype of the parents. Analysis of three isozymes, leucine aminopeptidase, acid phosphatase and esterase indicated that ten hybrids lost B. campestris-specific bands in one or more of the three isozymes examined. The chromosome analysis showed that 90% of the hybrids were aneuploids. In addition, abnormal chromosomes were often found in root tip cells. These results suggested that the hybrids obtained were asymmetric in nature and resulted from elimination of B. campestris chromosomes by X-ray irradiation.