Production of a highly asymmetric somatic hybrid between rice and Zizania latifolia (Griseb): evidence for inter-genomic exchange

 A highly asymmetric and fertile somatic hybrid plant was obtained via protoplast fusion in an intergenric combination. Gamma-ray-irradiated Zizania latifolia (Griseb). Turcz. ex Stapf mesophyll protoplasts were electrofused with idoacetamide-inactivated rice protoplasts derived from a 2-month-old suspension cell culture. Two of the six putative hybrid calli regenerated plants. Cytological observation showed that the somatic chromosome numbers of both plants were the same as the rice parent (2n=24). Nevertheless, the hybrid nature and inter-genomic exchange events of one of the plants, i.e. SH6 (SH for somatic hybrid), were confirmed by Southern analysis using both total genomic DNA and moderate-copy, Z. latifolia-abundant DNA sequences as probes; in both cases, parental specific and/or new intergenomic recombinant hybridization fragments were detected. In both plant and seed morphology, the hybrid (SH6) was distinct from its rice parental cultivar, as well as from the wild donor species, Z. latifolia. Received: 15 August 1998 / Accepted: 30 September 1998