Highly asymmetric somatic hybrid plants were obtained by PEG/DMSO fusion of gamma irradiated (100, 250, 7500 and 1000 Gy) protoplasts of a (KmR-) interspecific hybrid Lycopersicon esculentum x L. pennellii (EP) with protoplasts of eggplant (E). Somatic hybrid calli were selected based on kanamycin resistance and verified by PCR of the NptII gene, RAPD's and Southern's using potato rDNA pTHG2 probes. Flow cytometry indicated all hybrid calli that did not regenerate shoots were 5-9n. Three asymmetric plants regenerated only from callus close to 4n and such calli oly occurred when EP received 100 Gy. The asymmetric plants had eggplant morphology and regenerated from one hybrid callus with 6.29 average size tomato chromosomes. Limited amounts of EP DNA were found in the three somatic hybrid plants H18-1 to -3 by dot-blot hybridization with probe pTHG2, to be equivalent to 6.23, 5.41, and 5.95 % EP, respectively. RFLP analysis of Lycopersicon esculentum and L. pennellii specific chromosomes revealed that only fragments of 8 to 10 out of the 24 EP chromosomes are present in the asymmetric plants. Transgenic plants 2-3, 2-4 and 10-3 were found resistant to verticillium; suggesting successful transfer of the Ve complex from S. torvum to eggplant.