Production of transgenic rapeseed Brassica napus L. by transformation withAgrobacterium tumefaciens

The procedure for genetic transformation of two spring and one winter rapes eed cultivars was developed. Nopaline strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens GV3101 and EHA105 were shown to be preferable for gene transfer, as compare d to the octopine strain GV2260. With two types of plant explants, the segm ents of hypocotyls and cotyledons, transformation was successful; however, its efficiency was somewhat higher with the fragments of hypocotyls. Analys is of regenerated plants by PCR and Southern blotting confirmed the presenc e of the nprII and nisA genes in transformants. RNA analysis by Northern bl otting showed expression of the nisA gene in transformed shoots. The transg enes were inherited in T-2 as Mendelian traits. The effect of biotic and ab iotic factors on the efficiency of genetic transformation in rapeseed is di scussed.