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ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #90392
Title: GENETIC MODIFICATION OF 'ROYAL GALA' APPLE BY AGROBACTERIUM-MEDIATED TRANSFORMATION AND COLCHICINE-INDUCED MUTATION

Author
item LIU, QINGZHONG - CONTRACT EMPLOYEE
item Hammerschlag, Freddi

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/13/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: As part of a program to develop transgenic Malus x domestica Borkh. cv. Royal Gala with improved disease resistance, transgenic diploid and tetraploid plants with a cecropin MB39 gene were regenerated. Transgenic diploid plants were obtained from etiolated internodal explants by Agrobacterium tumefaciens- mediated transformation using the plasmid binary vector pGV with a chimeric gene consisting of a secretory sequence from barley alpha amylase joined to a modified cecropin MB39 coding sequence and placed under the control of a wound-inducible osmotin promoter from tobacco. The integration of the cecropin gene into the apple genome was confirmed by Southern Blot analysis. The transformation efficiency was 1.5%. Both non- and transgenic tetraploid plants were produced by treating leaf explants from wild type and transgenic diploid shoots with colchicine at 25 mg/L in apple regeneration medium. Twenty-two tetraploid lines were obtained from 90 explants. Flow cytometry was used for ploidy determination. The tetraploid plants were distinguishable from the dipoid plants on morphological as well as cytogenetic grounds. Both transgenic diploid and tetraploid plants are now being evaluated for resistance to fire blight.