Abstract
We report the successfull delay of leaf senescence in Medicago sativa. A highly regenerable clone of alfalfa was transformed with the construct SAG12-IPT, an approach that has already proved efficient in other crops. Several independent transformants were obtained as determined by Southern analysis and all the transformants expressed the transgene as measured by RT-PCR. In vitro and in vivo analyses showed that SAG12-IPT plants exhibited a stay-green phenotype that has the potential to greatly improve the quantity and quality of alfalfa forage.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Prof. R. Amasino, University of Wisconsin, for the kind gift of the plasmid PSG529. Thanks are due to Michele Bellucci, Francesca DeMarchis, Francesco Damiani, collegues from our laboratory, for advice during the work. Critical reading of the manuscript by Iain Donnison, Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research, Aberystwyth, UK, is greatly acknowledged. The research was supported by funds from “Programma di ricerca speciale: Incremento della Produzione di Proteine Vegetali per l’Alimentazione Zootecnica (legge 49/2001)” to E.P.
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Calderini, O., Bovone, T., Scotti, C. et al. Delay of leaf senescence in Medicago sativa transformed with the ipt gene controlled by the senescence-specific promoter SAG12. Plant Cell Rep 26, 611–615 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-006-0262-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-006-0262-y