Fertile transgenic pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] plants recovered through microprojectile bombardment and phosphinothricin selection of apical meristem-, inflorescence-, and immature embryo-derived embryogenic tissues

Abstract

Pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] is a drought-tolerant cereal crop used for grain and forage. Novel traits from outside of the gene pool could be introduced provided a reliable gene-transfer method were available. We have obtained herbicide-resistant transgenic pearl millet plants by microprojectile bombardment of embryogenic tissues with the bar gene. Embryogenic tissues derived from immature embryos, inflorescences and apical meristems from diploid and tetraploid pearl millet genotypes were used as target tissues. Transformed cells were selected in the dark on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 2 mg/l 2,4-D and 15 mg/l phosphinothricin (PPT). After 3–10 weeks in the dark, herbicide-resistant somatic embryos were induced to germinate on MS medium containing 0.1 mg/l thidiazuron and 0.1 mg/l 6-benzylaminopurine. Plants were transferred to the greenhouse after they were rooted in the presence of PPT and had passed a chlorophenol red assay (the medium turned from red to yellow). Transgenic plants were recovered from bombardments using intact pAHC25 plasmid DNA, a gel-purified bar fragment, or a mixture of pAHC25 plasmid or bar fragment and a plasmid containing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (gfp) gene (p524EGFP.1). Analyses by the polymerase chain reaction, Southern blot hybridization, GFP expression, resistance to herbicide application, and segregation of the bar and gfp genes confirmed the presence and stable integration of the foreign DNA. Transformed plants were recovered from all three explants, although transformation conditions were optimized using only the tetraploid inflorescence. Time from culture initiation to rooted transgenic plant using the tetraploid inflorescence ranged from 3–4 months. Seven independent DNA/gold precipitations were used to bombard 52 plates, 29 of which produced an average of 5.5 herbicide-resistant plants per plate. The number of herbicide-resistant plants recovered per successful bombardment ranged from one to 28 and the frequency of co-transformation with gfp ranged from 5% to 85%.