Transfer of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) chloroplasts into cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.) by protoplast fusion.

Abstract
Intergeneric hybrid plants were obtained through protoplast fusion between red cabbage (Brassica oleracea L.) and radish (Raphanus sativus L.). Protoplast fusion was carried out by the dextran method using protoplasts from hypocotyls and cotyledons of both cabbage and radish. The selection of somatic hybrids utilized the inactivation of cabbage protoplasts with iodoacetamide and the low cell-division ability of radish protoplasts. Ten plants were regenerated from selected colonies. Two of them developed to the flowering stage and formed male sterile flowers, which showed cytoplasmic inheritance. The plant and leaf morphology, chromosome number, acid phosphatase and peroxidase isozyme patterns, sexual compatibility, and SmaI cleavage patterns of chloroplast DNA indicated that these plants were intergeneric hybrids having the nucleus of cabbage and chloroplasts of radish.