Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of tomato processing cultivars

Abstract

The objective of this study was to adapt an A. tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation system to the processing of the Brazilian tomato cultivars 'IPA-5' and 'IPA-6'. Factors such as antibiotics, genotype, vector and temperature of co-cultivation, which affect transformation efficiency, were examined. The Genotype was the most important factor to influence the cultivars transformation efficiencies. Based on the natural tolerance to kanamycin of both cultivars a concentration of 75mg L-1 was used during regeneration phase. Therefore, during 'IPA-6' and 'IPA-5' rooting phase was used 75 and 100mg L-1 kanamycin, respectively. Based on the results of these experiments a protocol for A. tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation of the 'IPA-5' and 'IPA-6' Brazilian tomato processing cultivars was developed with an average of 5% transformation efficiency.