Abstract
Cytoplasmic somatic hybrids (cybrids) between the two sexually incompatible species Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana alata were constructed. A total of 33 green regenerants were obtained after fusion of protoplasts from a tobacco cytoplasmic chlorophyll-deficient mutant and gamma irradiation-inactivated leaf protoplasts of N. alata. Twenty nine of them were male sterile and displayed an altered stamen morphology (formation of petaloid and stigmoid structures instead of stamens). Southern-blot analyses of eight CMS plants using N. alata-specific nuclear repetitive DNA and cpDNA probes revealed that they contained nuclear genetic material of N. tabacum and chloroplasts from N. alata. Restriction-enzyme analysis of mitochondrial DNAs of the cybrids in question showed different patterns consisting of an incomplete mix of mtDNA fragments from both parents, as well as new fragments. Southern-blot analysis of mtDNAs with a sunflower atpA probe gave the same recombinant hybridization pattern for all analyzed cybrids, indicating that high-frequency specific recombination occurs in the atpA region. Analysis of the progeny from three successive backcrosses of the studied cybrids with N. tabacum demonstrated a strict cytoplasmic inheritance of the male-sterile phenotype.
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Received: 10 May 1997 / Accepted: 31 March 1998
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Atanassov, I., Atanassova, S., Dragoeva, A. et al. A new CMS source in Nicotiana developed via somatic cybridization between N. tabacum and N. alata. Theor Appl Genet 97, 982–985 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001220050980
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001220050980