Characteristics of transgenic trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata Raf.) possessing the rolC gene of Agrobacterium rhizogenes Ri plasmid

Abstract

Transgenic plants of trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata Raf.) possessing chimeric genes, a promoter of cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S RNA and structural gene of rolC of the Ri plasmid (35S-rolC) or promoter region (5' upstream of non-coding DNA) of rolC and the structural gene of rolC (rolC-rolC) were obtained by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The stable integration of the genes was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot analyses. The transformed plants are dwarfed, but the degree of dwarfing differed among individual plants and between plants with 35S-rolC and those with rolC-rolC. The internodal lengths of the transformants with 35S-rolC were much shorter than those of non-transformed control plants. Eighteen out of 20 transformants with 35S-rolC were 40% shorter than the control. The internodal length of plants with rolC-rolC, in contrast, ranged from 10-120% of control plants. Almost all transformants possessed higher rooting abilities than did the control plants.