EFFICIENT GENETIC TRANSFORMATION OF STRAWBERRY (FRAGARIA X ANANASSA DUCH.) CULTIVAR SELEKTA

A transformation system was developed for the commercially grown South African strawberry (Fragaria x Ananassa Duch.) cultivar Selekta using Agrobacterium mediated gene transfer.
Using this system we have successfully regenerated transgenic plants harboring genes that encode -glucuronidase (GUS) or phoshinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT). Leaf pieces collected from actively growing plants in the greenhouse were inoculated with disarmed Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58C1/PGV2260 containing the GUS or PAT genes under control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter in binary vectors pBI121 and pBIN19, respectively.
Shoots were produced at a frequency of about 10% on a shooting medium containing kanamycin (50 mg.l^-1). The majority of kanamycin-resistant shoots that originated from explants transformed with pBI121, showed expression of the GUS gene.
Putatively transformed shoots derived from explants transformed with the PAT gene were proliferated and rooted in vitro before being established in a greenhouse.
Most transgenic lines which contained the PAT gene were shown to be resistant to the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium (Ignite®). Field trials conducted during 1994 and 1995 revealed that four out of 22 herbicide resistant transgenic lines resembled the phenotypic characteristics of untransformed control Selekta plants under commercial conditions.

III International Symposium on In Vitro Culture and Horticultural Breeding

Hennie J. du Plessis, Reon J. Brand, C. Glyn-Woods, M. A. Goedhart

Agrobacterium tumefaciens, β-glucuronidase, glufosinate ammonium, phoshinothricin acetyl transferase, transgenic plants, trial release

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.447.58