The objective of this
work was to study the stress tolerance and
regeneration capability of transgenic pepper
plants carrying a sod
gene , encoding a
tomato chloroplast -localized Cu/Zn SOD
protein . The expression of the sod
gene was confirmed by enzymatic
staining following
polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), revealing a novel band, which could represent a heterodimeric
enzyme . Transgenic T1 and T2 progeny
plants were exposed to different
oxidative stresses including
Methyl viologen (MV) and
drought and found to have an increased resistance to
oxidative damage . Furthermore, the SOD
carrying transgenic pepper
plants showed increased levels of
regeneration efficiency compared to the wild type pepper
plants . Pepper is a recalcitrant species in terms of its
in vitro regeneration ability but it could be extremely useful for the development of
pharmaceuticals . This approach enables the extent use of pepper for
genetic transformation and the
production of high valuable products in
plants particularly the large
fruit varieties.