The major objective of this study was to produce synthetic genotypes of Brassica juncea from its parental species <i> B. rapa </i> and <i> B. nigra </i> via somatic and sexual hybridization. As prerequisites for somatic hybridization experiments, methods were developed to improve the culture of mesophyll and hypocotyl protoplasts of <i> B. nigra </i> and <i> B. rapa </i>, to obtain reliable plant regeneration from mesophyll protoplast cultures of <i> B. nigra </i>, and to fuse protoplasts of <i> B. nigra </i> and <i> B. rapa </i>. A modified Kao's medium (1977), was found suitable for the culture of mesophyll protoplasts of <i> B. nigra </i> and <i> B. rapa </i>. At a density of approximately $110\sp5$ protoplasts/ml within a culture plate insert surrounded by culture medium, mesophyll protoplast cultures of <i> B. nigra </i> accessions R890, R1819, R3392 and U1218 and <i> B. rapa </i> cvs. R500 and Wong Bok formed colonies. Genotypic differences in cell division and colony formation were observed. Hypocotyl protoplasts of <i> B. nigra </i> and <i> B. rapa </i> were successfully isolated from 6 day-old seedlings cultured in a modified Kao's medium (1977). With <i> B. nigra </i> accession R890 and <i> B. rapa </i> cv. R500, cell division and colony formation were optimal when hypocotyl protoplasts were cultured at a density of 0.5 to $1.010\sp5$ protoplasts/ml within a culture plate insert surrounded by a nurse culture of 4 to 6 day-old mesophyll protoplasts of <i> B. nigra </i>. Plant regeneration was obtained from mesophyll protoplast-derived calli of <i> B. nigra </i> accession R890 originally cultured in inserts; a shoot regeneration frequency of 8.1% was obtained on a medium containing the salts and vitamins of medium K3 (Nagy and Maliga 1976) with 3 g/l sucrose, 18.2 g/l mannitol, 2 mg/l ZR, 0.1 mg/l NAA, 10 g/l agarose, pH 5.6. For somatic hybridizatian studies, methods were developed to select out parental protoplasts using iodoacetic acid and to efficiently fuse protoplasts on the bottom of a petri dish using PEG. Twenty-nine plants were recovered from fusion experiments between mesophyll protoplasts of <i> B. nigra </i> accession R890 and hypocotyl protoplasts of <i> B. rapa </i> cv. Tobin. The somatic hybrid plants resembled natural <i> B. juncea </i>, had $2n=36$ chromosomes and had pollen viabilities ranging from 30 to 45%. Twenty-one plants, derived from one callus colony, possessed the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of <i> B. rapa </i>, as found in natural <i> B. juncea </i>. Eight plants, derived from another callus, had a novel cytoplasmic combination consisting of the mitochondrial genome of <i> B. rapa </i> and the chloroplast genome of <i> B. nigra </i>. Synthetic genotypes of <i> B. juncea </i> were also produced from reciprocal sexual crosses between <i> B. rapa </i> and <i> B. nigra </i>. Seventy-eight interspecific hybrid plants from the cross <i> B. rapa </i> x <i> B. nigra </i> and six hybrid plants from the reciprocal cross were identified by their morphology, pollen viability and chromosome number. The colchicine-induced allotetraploids resembled natural <i> B. juncea </i> in morphology, had 18 bivalents at metaphase I, and had between 35 and 70% pollen viability.