Early antibiotic selection and efficient rooting and acclimatization improve the production of transgenic plum plants (Prunus domestica L.)

We describe here an improved system for routinely developing transgenic plum plants (Prunus domestica L.) through the use of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The production of non-transformed "escapes" has been virtually eliminated, and rates of plant establishment in the greenhouse have been dramatically improved. The system is based on the regeneration of shoots from hypocotyls extracted from mature seed. The shoot regeneration medium is Murashige and Skoog (MS) salts and vitamins supplemented with 7.5 muM thidiazuron and 0.25 muM indole-butyric acid. Transferring the explants after co-cultivation to shoot regeneration medium containing 80 mg l(-1) of kanamycin and 300 mg l(-1) of Timentin reduced the total number of regenerated shoots without affecting the transformation rate. Transformation rates using the described system averaged 1.2% of the hypocotyl slices producing transgenic plants, with a range of 0-4.2%. The transgenic shoots rooted at a rate of 90% on half-strength MS salts and vitamins supplemented with 5 muM alpha-naphthaleneacetic acid and 0.01 muM kinetin. Plantlets were transferred to a greenhouse directly from culture tubes with a 90% average survival.