Authors: Q Y Shu G S Liu S X Xu X F Li H J Li
Publish Date: 2005/01/19
Volume: 24, Issue: 1, Pages: 36-44
Abstract
Chinese leymus Leymus chinensis Trin Tzvel is a perennial grass tribe Gramineae that is widely distributed throughout northern China and Mongolia where it is produced as a forage product Severe production losses due to weed growth have serious economic consequences and as nonselective herbicides not only kill the weeds but are also harmful to this forage grass the introduction of a foreign gene for resistance to the herbicide Basta is necessary since this species lacks herbicide resistance We have investigated the transformation of a gene for phosphinothricin acetyltransferase PAT through microprojectile bombardment in Chinese leymus Calli from immature inflorescences cultured on N6 medium supplemented with 20 mg/l 24dichlorophenoxyacetic acid 24D and 50 mg/l of glutamine were bombarded The bombarded calli survived on selection medium with 10 mg/l of phosphinothricin PPT Twentythree plantlets regenerated from resistant calli on differentiation medium supplemented with 10 mg/l 6benzylaminopurine 10 mg/l kinetin and 10 mg/l PPT and five of these regenerated plantlets survived on rooting medium with 10 mg/l of PPT PCR and Southern blotting analyses indicated that the PAT gene had been integrated into the genomes of two Chinese leymus plantlets and that the gene was stably transferred to its clonal offsprings There were no other phenotypic effects associated with transgene expression during vegetative growth except tolerance to the herbicide BastaWe are grateful to Prof CC Chu for his advice Our special thanks are given to Jiangshu Liu for her technical assistance and Dr Shihua Shen for providing plasmids with the PAT gene The Biotechnology of Pasture Plant Program is funded by the Key Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences KSCXI08
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