Oat (Avena sativa L.)

Abstract

Agrobacterium -mediated transformation is a suitable method to transform different cultivars using different systems of A. tumefaciens strains and binary vectors as well as selection cassettes. We describe here a detailed protocol for two cultivars, one naked and one husked, using the AGL1 strain and the pGreen vector containing the npt II selection cassette (http://www.pgreen.ac.uk/), suitable for oat as well as other cereals. The pGreen vector system was recently developed for pBract (http://www.bract.org/) and its transformation ability for cereals was proved. Assuming our experience and the latest knowledge on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of cereals, we suggest using in the protocol one of the newly developed pBract or pCAMBIA (http://www.cambia.org/daisy/cambia/) vector systems which carry different selection cassettes. The commonly used selection genes npt II, bar, and hpt were proved to be applicable for oat transformation and might be used as needed.