Atrazine-resistant cytoplasmic male-sterile-nigra broccoli obtained by protoplast fusion between cytoplasmic male-sterile Brassica oleracea and atrazine-resistant Brassica campestris.

Protoplast fusion was used to combine the cytoplasmic traits of atrazine resistance and male sterility in Brassica oleracea var. italica (broccoli). Leaf protoplasts from broccoli with the petaloid B. nigra type of cytoplasmic male sterility were fused with hypocotyl protoplasts from an atrazine-resistant biotype of B. campestris var. oleifera cv Candle (oilseed rape). A total of 19 colonies regenerated shoots, all of which were broccolilike in phenotype, i.e., lacked trichomes. Four shoots, all from one colony, were atrazine resistant, surviving and growing in the presence of 25 μM atrazine. A leaf piece assay also confirmed that they were atrazine resistant. Molecular analysis showed that they contain chloroplasts from the atrazine-resistant B. campestris parent and mitochondria from the B. nigra parent. No recombination or rearrangement of the mitochondrial genomes in the fusion products was detected. These four plants and their progeny all showed the petaloid B. nigra type of male sterility.