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Transgenic Plants pp 109–122Cite as

Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Sorghum bicolor Using Immature Embryos

Part of the Methods in Molecular Biology book series (MIMB,volume 847)

Abstract

Successful efforts describing in vitro culturing, regeneration, and transformation of grain sorghum were reported, using particle bombardment, as early as 1993, and with Agrobacterium tumefaciens in 2000. Reported transformation efficiencies via Agrobacterium routinely range from 1 to 2%. Recently, such efficiencies via Agrobacterium in several plant species were improved with the use of heat and centrifugation treatments of explants prior to infection. Here, we describe the successful use of heat pretreatment of immature embryos (IEs) prior to Agrobacterium inoculation to increase routine transformation frequencies of a single genotype, P898012, to greater than 7%. This reproducible frequency was calculated as numbers of independently transformed IEs, confirmed by PCR, western, and DNA hybridization analysis, that produced fertile transgenic plants, divided by total numbers of infected IEs.

Key words

  • Agrobacterium tumefaciens
  • GFP
  • Heat treatment
  • Immature embryos
  • Phosphomannose isomerase
  • Sorghum
  • Transformation

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  • DOI: 10.1007/978-1-61779-558-9_10
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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Joshua Wong for technical advice and support, Han-Qi Tan and Katrina Linden for their participation in the experimental aspects of the work, and Barbara Alonso for graphic and editing support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Songul Gurel, Ekrem Gurel, Tamara I. Miller & Peggy G. Lemaux

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  1. Songul Gurel
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  2. Ekrem Gurel
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  3. Tamara I. Miller
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  4. Peggy G. Lemaux
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peggy G. Lemaux .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6AS, United Kingdom

    Jim M. Dunwell

  2. Dept. of Agricultural Botany, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom

    Andy C. Wetten

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Gurel, S., Gurel, E., Miller, T.I., Lemaux, P.G. (2012). Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Sorghum bicolor Using Immature Embryos. In: Dunwell, J., Wetten, A. (eds) Transgenic Plants. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 847. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-558-9_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-558-9_10

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