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Title: IN VITRO SHOOT PRODUCTION AND GENE DELIVERY INTO LEAVES FROM IN VITRO PROPAGATED HIGHBUSH BLUEBERRY SHOOTS ARE INFLUENCED BY THE SUCROSE LEVEL IN THE PROPAGATION MEDIUM

Author
item Hammerschlag, Freddi
item Fordham, Ingrid
item CAO, XIAOLING - VISITING SCIENTIST

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/18/2002
Publication Date: 8/18/2002
Citation: Hammerschlag, F.A., Fordham, I.M., Cao, X. 2002. In vitro shoot production and gene delivery into leaves from in vitro propagated highbush blueberry shoots are influenced by the sucrose level in the propagation medium. Conference Abstract Book -Page 30

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: As part of a program to develop protocols aimed at improving highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) via either genetic engineering or tissue culture techniques, studies were conducted to examine the effects of sucrose concentration in the shoot multiplication medium on in vitro shoot proliferation and on the transfer of an intron-containing Beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene into leaf explants from the in vitro propagated shoots. Shoot (less than 0.5 cm) production from cultivars Bluecrop, Duke and Georgiagem increased 1.3 to 1.8-fold, 1.4 to 1.9-fold and 1.3 to 2.3-fold when the sucrose concentration was increased from 15 mM to either 29, 44 or 58 mM, respectively. Four days of cocultivation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105 yielded maximum GUS-expressing leaf zones on leaf explants from shoots cultured on either 15 or 29 mM sucrose. The number of GUS-expressing leaf zones was significantly less on leaf explants from shoots on 58 mM sucrose than from those on 15 mM sucrose for all three cultivars. These studies suggest that shoot pretreatment conditions need to be considered for optimizing subsequent blueberry genetic engineering experiments. Thus, a multiplication medium containing 29 mM sucrose is recommended to obtain both high levels of shoot production and GUS expression with cultivars Bluecrop and Georgiagem, but 15 mM sucrose is recommended for cultivar Duke.