Effect of Acetosyringone and Variety on Transformation of Orchardgrass

Effects of acetosyringone and on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of orchardgrass were investigated. Embryogenic calli induced from 3 varieties, Frontier, Potomac and Roughrider, were infected and co-cultured with Agrobacterium EHA101 carrying standard binary vector pIG121Hm encoding the hygromycin phosphotransferase(HPT), neomycin phosphotransferase II(NPTII) and intron-containing (intron-GUS) genes in the T-DNA region. The effects of varieties and acetosyringone(AS) concentrations on transformation and the expression of the GUS gene were investigated. Inclusion of AS in inoculation and co-cultivation media lead to a significant increase in stable transformation efficiency. Hygromycin resistant calli were developed into complete plants via somatic embryogenesis. GUS histochemical assay and PCR analysis of transgenic plants demonstrated that transgenes were integrated into the genome of orchardgrass.