Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of the white-rot fungus Dichomitus squalens.

Dichomitus squalens is an efficient white-rot fungus that generates a wide range of extracellular enzymes to degrade lignocellulose in nature. Although a protoplast-mediated transformation method for D. squalens has been developed, the transformation efficiency remains low. Here, we established a highly efficient Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMT) procedure for D. squalens by transferring a binary vector harboring the neomycin phosphotransferase II (nptII) resistance gene fused with DsRed-Express2, under the control of the native glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GPD) gene promoter. Key factors affecting the efficiency of transformation were tested. A. tumefaciens EHA105 strain with a cell density of 0.4 OD600nm and 96 h co-cultivation resulted in the highest transformation efficiency, with an average of 98 ± 11 transformants per co-cultivation plate. Besides, the strong expression of DsRed-Express2 indicates the effectiveness of the DsGPD promoter in driving gene expression in D. squalens. This ATMT system of D. squalens would be beneficial for its molecular genetic studies.

Improved soybean transformation for efficient and high throughput transgenic production.

Although genetic transformation of soybean dates back to over two decades, the process remains inefficient. Here, we report the development of an organogenesis-based transformation method of soybean that resulted in an average transformation frequency of 18.7%. This improved method resorts to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of the split-seed explant with an attached partial embryonic axis obtained from an imbibed seed. In addition to the split-seed explant, Agrobacterium strain and preparation were shown to be important for improved transformation. Transformation with Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105 generated higher transformation frequencies and number of low copy events compared to the strain EHA101. In this system, phosphinothricin acetyl transferase conferring tolerance to glufosinate was successfully employed for efficiently producing transgenic events. Around 48% of the T1 progeny was demonstrated to be heritable based on molecular analysis and screening with the herbicide Liberty®. This method was shown to be applicable to different genotypes and a few elite lines showed high transformation frequencies. This split-seed system with an attached partial embryonic axis serves not only as an efficient means for high throughput transgenic production for basic research studies but also for the commercial development of transgenic soybean products.

Pea p68, a DEAD-box helicase, enhances salt tolerance in marker-free transgenic plants of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill].

Protein p68 is a prototype constituent of DEAD-box protein family, which is involved in RNA metabolism, induced during abiotic stress conditions. In order to address the salinity stress faced by economically important soybean crop, we have transformed soybean cv. PUSA 9712 via direct organogenesis with marker free construct of p68 gene by Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation. The putative transgenic plants were screened by Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), Dot blot analysis and Southern blot hybridization. Reverse transcriptase-PCR (RT-PCR) and Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) established that the p68 gene expressed in three out of five southern positive (T1) plants. The transformed (T1) soybean plants survived irrigation upto 200 mM of NaCl whereas the non-transformed (NT) plants could not survive even 150 mM NaCl. The transgenic soybean (T1) plants showed a higher accumulation of chlorophyll, proline, CAT, APX, SOD, RWC, DHAR and MDHAR than the NT plants under salinity stress conditions. The transformed (T1) soybean plants also retained a higher net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and CO2 assimilation as compared to NT plants. Further analysis revealed that (T1) soybean plants accumulated higher K+ and lower Na+ levels than NT plants. Yield performance of transformed soybean plants was estimated in the transgenic green house under salinity stress conditions. The transformed (T1) soybean plants expressing the p68 gene were morphologically similar to non-transformed plants and produced 22-24 soybean pods/plant containing 8-9 g (dry weight) of seeds at 200 mM NaCl concentration. The present investigation evidenced the role of the p68 gene against salinity, by enhancing the tolerance towards salinity stress in soybean plants.

Coexpression of octopine and succinamopine Agrobacterium virulence genes to generate high quality transgenic events in maize by reducing vector backbone integration.

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is a complex process that is widely utilized for generating transgenic plants. However, one of the major concerns of this process is the frequent presence of undesirable T-DNA vector backbone sequences in the transgenic plants. To mitigate this deficiency, a ternary strain of A. tumefaciens was modified to increase the precision of T-DNA border nicking such that the backbone transfer is minimized. This particular strain supplemented the native succinamopine VirD1/VirD2 of EHA105 with VirD1/VirD2 derived from an octopine source (pTi15955), the same source as the binary T-DNA borders tested here, residing on a ternary helper plasmid containing an extra copy of the succinamopine VirB/C/G operons and VirD1. Transformation of maize immature embryos was carried out with two different test constructs, pDAB101556 and pDAB111437, bearing the reporter YFP gene and insecticidal toxin Cry1Fa gene, respectively, contained in the VirD-supplemented and regular control ternary strains. Molecular analyses of ~ 700 transgenic events revealed a significant 2.6-fold decrease in events containing vector backbone sequences, from 35.7% with the control to 13.9% with the VirD-supplemented strain for pDAB101556 and from 24.9% with the control to 9.3% with the VirD-supplemented strain for pDAB111437, without compromising transformation efficiency. In addition, while the number of single copy events recovered was similar, there was a 24-26% increase in backbone-free events with the VirD-supplemented strain compared to the control strain. Thus, supplementing existing VirD1/VirD2 genes in Agrobacterium, to recognize diverse T-DNA borders, proved to be a useful tool to increase the number of high quality events in maize.

Sri Lankan cassava mosaic virus replication associated protein (Rep) triggers transposition of IS426 in Agrobacterium.

We report a high rate of IS426 transposition in Agrobacterium tumefaciens in the presence of the Sri Lankan cassava mosaic virus (SLCMV) replication associated protein gene (Rep). Upon conjugal transfer of the binary plasmid pCam-SLCMV-Rep with the SLCMV Rep gene in the sense orientation under the transcriptional control of the Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter into the A. tumefaciens vir helper strain EHA105, the binary plasmid size increased in all 15 transconjugants studied. Southern blot analysis of the transconjugants with the binary plasmid probe revealed that the 35S promoter and its proximal sequences in the T-DNA were rearranged. The rearranged sequences harboured the 1.3-kb IS426 element of A. tumefaciens. Conjugal mobilisation of the binary plasmid pCam-SLCMV-asRep, with the SLCMV Rep gene in antisense orientation, did not cause DNA rearrangement in EHA105. A mutated SLCMV Rep, in which a frame shift mutation caused retention of only 27 of the 351 amino acids, did not cause IS426 transposition in A. tumefaciens. These findings show that the multifunctional begomoviral Rep protein of SLCMV triggers transposition of IS426 in Agrobacterium.

Expressão transiente do gene uidA em explantes foliares de Eucalyptus saligna Sm. transformado via Agrobacterium tumefaciens / Transient expression of uidA gene in leaf explants of Eucalyptus saligna Sm. transformed via Agrobacterium tumefaciens

O objetivo desse trabalho foi avaliar a influência do pré-cultivo de explantes foliares e do meio de cultura na ressuspensão de Agrobacterium tumefaciens para infecção dos explantes. Os meios MS/2 (50% da concentração de sais) e MS N/2 (50% da concentração de NH4NO3 e KNO3) + PGR (1,0µM de TDZ (thidiazuron) + 0,1 µM de ANA (ácido naftalenoacético)) foram testados na ressuspensão da bactéria para infecção dos explantes. O pré-cultivo consistiu da manutenção dos explantes em meio de cultura para formação de calos (MS N/2 + PGR) durante um dia, sendo o tratamento sem pré-cultivo consistituído dos explantes após a excissão dos mesmos. Os explantes foram mantidos no escuro a 25 ± 2ºC mediante a utilização de plástico preto. O delineamento usado foi o inteiramente casualisado com 20 explantes. Os experimentos foram repetidos duas vezes. O meio MS/2 promoveu resultados superiores (22,4%) comparado ao meio MS N/2 + PGR (14,5%) para a percentagem de área com expressão do gene uidA. Aos 7 dias de cultivo em meio seletivo, a percentagem de área expressando o gene uidA foi 1,6 no MS/2 e 0% para o MS N/2 + PGR. O pré-cultivo produziu resultados superiores aos encontrados sem pré-cultivo, atingindo 31,4% de expressão transiente e no tratamento sem pré-cultivo 2,1%. Após 7 dias de cultivo em meio seletivo, a percentagem de área de expressão dos explantes do tratamento com pré-cultivo permaneceu 4,8% e 0% para o tratamento sem pré-cultivo. Os resultados indicam que o précultivo e ressuspensão da bactéria em meio MS/2 aumentaram a eficiência da expressão transiente do gene uidA em explantes foliares de E. saligna.

The aim of this research was to evaluate the effect of the pre-culture of leaf explants and the effect of the culture medium for the Agrobacterium tumefaciens resuspension to the explant infection. The media, MS/2 (half strength) and MS N/2 (10.3 mM NH4NO3 and 9.4 mM KNO3) + PGR (1.0 µM TDZ (thidiazuron) and 0.1 µM NAA (1-Naphthaleneacetic acid)) were tested for the bacteria resuspension. The pre-culture consisted of the maintenance of the explants on culture medium for callus formation (MS N/2+PGR) during one day and the treatment without pre-culture consisted of the use of the explants after the excision of the same ones. At the end of the co-culture, the MS/2 promoted results superiors to the MS N/2+PGR, and the area percentage that presented expression of the gene uidA was of 22.4% compared at 14.5%. To the 7 days of culture on a medium with kanamycin, the area percentage expressing the gene uidA was 1.6 in MS/2 and 0% for the MS N/2+PGR. At the end of the co-culture, the pre-culture produced results superiors to the found in the treatment without pre-culture, reaching 31.4% of expression and in the treatment without pre-culture 2.1%. After 7 days of culture on a medium with kanamycin, the area percentage of explant expression of the treatment with pre-culture stayed 4.8% and 0% for the treatment without pre-culture. The results indicate that the pre-culture and the bacteria resuspension in MS/2 increase the efficiency of the transient expression of the gene uidA in leaf explants of E. saligna.