Transgenic coffee fruits from Coffea arabica genetically modified by bombardment

The genetic modification of Coffea arabica fruits is an important tool for the investigation of physiological characteristics and functional validation of genes related to coffee bean quality traits. In this work, plants of C. arabica cultivar Catuai Vermelho were successfully genetically modified by bombardment of embryogenic calli. Calli were obtained from 90% of the leaf explants cultivated in a callogenesis-inducing medium modified with 20 mu M 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). The resulting calli were bombarded with the pBI426 vector containing a uidA and nptII gene fusion that was driven by the double CaMV35s promoter. Kanamycin-selected embryos were positive for beta-glucuronidase (GUS) activity in histochemical assays and for target gene amplification by polymerase chain reaction. Integration of the nptII gene was confirmed by Southern blot and showed a low copy number (one to three) of insertions. Transformed plants showed normal development and settled fruits. GUS expression was assessed in the flower and fruit organs demonstrating the capacity of the double CaMV35s promoter to drive long-term stable expression of uidA in C. arabica fruit tissues. Moreover, we obtained a T-1 progeny presenting 3:1 Mendelian segregation of the uidA gene. This investigation is the first to report exogenous gene expression in coffee fruits and transgenic inheritance in C. arabica plants.