Efficient and genotype-independent Agrobacterium - Mediated tomato transformation

An efficient method to transform five cultivars of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), Micro-Tom, Red Cherry, Rubion, Piedmont, and E6203 is reported. A comparison was made of leaf, cotyledon, and hypocotyl explants on 7 different regeneration media without Agrobacterium tumefaciens cocultivation and on 11 different media with cocultivation. Although all cultivars and explants formed callus and regenerated on the initial 7 media, cocultivation with A. tumefaciens significantly reduced the callus induction and regeneration. From these experiments, a transformation methodology using either hypocotyls or cotyledons cultured for one day on BA 1 mg L^-1, NAA 0.1 mg L ^-1 and 3 days cocultivation with the Agrobacterium on this same medium followed by a transfer to a medium with zeatin 2 mg L^-1 and IAA 0.1 mg L^-1 for 4-6 weeks resulted in a greater than 20% transformation frequency for all five cultivars tested. In this transformation method, no feeder layers of tobacco, petunia or tomato suspension cultures were used, and the subculture media was minimal. Stable integration and transmission of the transgene in T₁ generation plants were confirmed by Southern blot analysis. This procedure represents a simple, efficient and general means of transforming tomato.