Agrobacterium-mediated Genetic Transformation of Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.) with an Aphidicidal Gene, gcs (Gamma-cadinene Synthase)

Abstract

Florist’s chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat.) belongs to the Asteraceae family and represents the second most important floricultural crop in the world. Unfortunately most genotypes are sensitive to aphids. Internode explants of 1581 and 4043 genotypes were incubated with A. tumefaciens strain AGL-0 containing pBIN plasmid with the npt gene as a selectable marker for kanamycin resistance and gcs gene as an aphicidal gene with rbcS promoter. Kanamycin resistant shoots were induced from internodes after 3 weeks. Finally, the shoots were rooted on MS medium containing 30 mg L-1 kanamycin. Incorporation and expression of the transgenes were confirmed by PCR and RT-PCR analysis. Genotype 4043 has been transformed in this study for the first time. Transformation frequency for GCS was 6.25 and 5% for genotypes 1581 and 4043, respectively.