BIOLISTIC TRANSFORMATION OF CUCUMBER USING EMBRYOGENIC SUSPENSION-CULTURES - LONG-TERM EXPRESSION OF REPORTER GENES

The generation of transgenic cucumber (Cucunis sativus L.) plants was achieved by biolistic transformation of a highly embryogenic cell susp ension culture using the nptII and uidA gene. Functional expression of the genes in transgenic plants was determined by neomycin phosphotran sferase and beta-glucuronidase enzyme assays. Southern analysis of DNA isolated from kanamycin-resistant plants confirmed stable integration of the genes as well as multicopy integration and rearrangements, A s tudy of gene expression showed activity of the uidA gene in plants reg enerated from kanamycin-resistant calli about one year after bombardme nt, indicating a high stability of the nonselectable gene.