CHARACTERIZATION OF ORNAMENTAL DATURA PLANTS TRANSFORMED BY AGROBACTERIUM-RHIZOGENES

Datura arborea and D. sanguinea hairy roots were produced by cocultiva tion of leaf fragments with Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain NCPP 1855. Adventitious buds emerged spontaneously, without exogenous growth reg ulators, from seven hairy root clones of D. arborea and from one hairy root clone of D. sanguinea. Regenerated plants were successfully accl imatized in the greenhouse. The integration of the bacterial TL-DNA in to the genome of the putative transformed plants was confirmed by Sout hern blot analysis. Transgenic plants displayed increased ability to r oot in vivo. Morphological traits with relevant ornamental value like plant height, leaf number, size and shape, internode number, and inter node length were also affected. Transformation by wild-type Ri TL-DNA provided the chance to study plant growth and differentiation and to s elect improved genotypes.