Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria Standl.)

We describe a procedure for producing transgenic bottle gourd plants by inoculating cotyledon explants with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain AGL1 that carries the binary vector pCAMBIA3301 containing a glufosinate ammonium-resistance (bar) gene and the β-d-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. The most effective bacterial infection was observed when cotyledon explants of 4-day-old seedlings were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium for 6-8 days on co-cultivation medium supplemented with 0.1-0.001 mg/l l-α-(2-aminoethoxyvinyl) glycine (AVG). The putatively transformed shoots directly emerged at the proximal end of cotyledon explants after 2-3 weeks of culturing on selection medium containing 2 mg/l dl-phosphinothricin. These shoots were rooted after 3 weeks of culturing on half-strength MS medium containing 0.1 mg/l indole acetic acid and 1 mg/l dl-phosphinothricin. Transgenic plants were obtained at frequencies of 1.9%. Stable integration and transmission of the transgenes in T₁ generation plants were confirmed by a histochemical GUS assay, polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot analyses. Genetic segregation analysis of T₁ progenies showed that transgenes were inherited in a Mendelian fashion. To our knowledge, this study is the first to show Agrobacterium-mediated transformation in bottle gourd.