Acquisition of a collection of Lycopersicon pennellii (Corr. D'Arcy) transgenic plants with uidA and nptII marker genes

This paper describes an efficient protocol for in vitro regeneration and ge netic transformation from leaf explants of L. pennellii (Corr. D'Arcy). Sho ot organogenesis was achieved on media with different combinations of indol e-acetic acid (IAA) and kinetin (K). Regeneration ratios ranged from 50 to 90%. After co-cultivation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens, about 57% of infe cted explants formed calli in the presence of kanamycin, and 15% of these c alli developed shoots within three weeks. Molecular characterization by pol ymerase chain reaction and Southern Hybridization confirmed the presence of the nptII gene and indicated the existence of plants with different number of copies. Histochemical assays for beta-glucuronidase activity and rootin g on kanamycin-containing medium indicated the expression of both genes. Re production of transgenic plants and sexual crosses with untransformed genot ypes showed Mendelian segregation. The collection of L. pennellii transgeni c plants will be an useful tool in experiments of asymmetric somatic hybrid ization with L. esculentum.