In vitro propagation and Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of caraway (Carum carvi L.)

Background and objective Carum carvi is one of the oldest-known cultivated herbs around the world. The caraway seeds are regarded as antispasmodic, astringent, and carminative, and are used in treating somatic stimulants, dyspepsia, colic, flatulent indigestion, diarrhea, and improved liver function. Tissue culture is a suitable strategy for producing large-scale plantlets with a high potential to produce superior-quality plants. Plant transformation methods help to improve food quality and help plants to resist biotic and abiotic stresses. The current study aimed to optimize in vitro propagation system and genetic transformation protocol by using the Agrobacterium-mediated method for caraway. Materials and methods The shoot tip was used as an explant. We investigated the effect of growth hormones, carbon sources, gelling agents, bacteria optical density, inoculation period, acetosyringone concentration, and cocultivation period on caraway regeneration and transformation system. Results and conclusion Maximum shoot response, numbers of shoots per explant, and shoot length were observed when placing shoot tips on Murashige and Skoog media supplemented with 5 μmol/l BA (6-benzyladenin), 1 μmol/l NAA (1-naphthaleneacetic acid), and 30 g/l of sucrose. Gellan gum products (gelrite and phyta gel) were superior to agar products (agar and bactoagar), especially when used with a concentration of 2.5 or 3 g/l. For transformation protocol, Agrobacterium infection was maximum at an optical density of 0.8 when inoculated with explant for 5 min in the presence of 100 μmol/l acetosyringone and cocultivated for 3 days. In this study, we presented a productive technique for propagation and an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system that can be beneficial in genetic transformation and other plant biotechnology techniques.