Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Plant Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #80734
Title: TRANSFORMATION OF OAT USING MATURE EMBRYO DERIVED TISSUE CULTURES

Author
item TORBERT, KIMBERLY - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
item Rines, Howard
item SOMERS, DAVID - UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/15/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The ability to isolate and transfer specific pieces of the genetic material (DNA) from one organism to another has provided a means to introduce new traits such as disease resistance or nutritional improvements into our crop plants. More consistent means of making these transfers are needed in several of our important crops to make the technology less costly and more efficient. Usually the transfer of DNA from one type of plant to another involves leaf material or immature seeds. Maintaining a continuous supply of such tissue requires special growth facilities and time. We have recently developed a novel system in the cereal oat by which new DNA can be delivered to mature seeds. Our modified procedures allowing the use of mature seed as the starting material reduces the labor and supply cost and provides a consistent tissue source for genetically engineering oat plants to improve grain nutritional quality, increase disease resistance, and enhance production.

Technical Abstract: Mature embryos of oat (Avena sativa L.) have been used to establish regenerable tissue cultures that may be useful for transformation. The objective of this study was to investigate mature embryo-derived callus as a source of totipotent target cells for microprojectile bombardment mediated transformation. Tissue cultures initiated from mature embryos of a specific genotype, GAF/Park-1, were incubated for 1, 4, 8 and 9 wk befor microprojectile bombardment. Eight- and 9-wk-old tissue cultures yielded the greatest numbers of transgenic tissue cultures (3.2 transgenic tissue cultures per microprojectile bombardment treatment). Three additional transformation experiments were conducted with mature embryo-derived 8- to 9-wk-old tissue cultures to determine the regeneration capacity and production of fertile transgenic plants. Overall, fertile plants were regenerated from 35 of 85 independently derived transgenic tissue cultures. .Identification of mature embryo-derived tissue cultures as a source of transformable totipotent cells should reduce the expense and labor involved in oat transformation. Moreover, the uniformity and convenience of this explant likely will stimulate further investigations in oat transformation efficacy.