Efficient Regeneration and Agrobacterium-mediated Transformation of Brassica napus Cultivar Qingza No.5

Using the hypocotyl and cotyledon explants of Brassica napus L. cuhivar Qingza No. 5 as receptors, hormone combinations in bud differentiation medi- um, bud growth medium and rooting medium were optimized to establish an efficient plantlet regeneration system of B. napus cuhivar Qingza No. 5. The results showed that the highest differentiation efficiency of hypocotyls of B. napus cuhivar Qingza No. 5 reached about 90%, which was three times that of cotyledons. The appropriate differentiation medium was MSB ＋ 5 mg/L thidiazuron （TDZ） ＋7.5 mg/L AgNO3 ＋ 0.1 mg/L NAA ＋ 2 mg/L proline （L-pro） ＋ 250 mg/L casein acid hydrolysate （CH） ＋ 3% sucrose; the appropriate growth medium was 1/2 MSB ＋ 1 mg/L IBA ＋ 2 mg/L L-pro ＋ 250 mg/L CH ＋ 1.5% sucrose; the ap- propriate rooting medium was 1/2 MSB ＋ 0.2 mg/L IAA ＋ 1.5% sucrose. On this basis, a binary expression vector harboring insect resistance gene B12 was constructed and introduced into B. napus hypocotyls by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Positive plants were screened using hygromycin and carbenicillin. Transgenic plants were verified by PCR and GUS histochemical staining. The results showed that insect resistance gene B12 was successfully integrated into the nu- clear genome of B. napus plants and could be expressed normally. Leaves of transgenic plants with high expression levels were collected for indoor inoculation test with Plutella xylotella larvae to evaluate insect resistance of transgenic plants.

Infection of Early and Young Callus Tissues of Indica Rice BPT5204 Enhances Regeneration and Transformation Efficiency

A rapid and reproducible method to develop transgenic plants with enhanced transformation efficiency using Agrobacterium has been developed for the elite indica rice variety BPT 5204. Different rice calli aged from 3 to 30 d were co-cultivated with pre-incubated Agrobacterium suspension culture （LBA4404： pSB1, pCAMBIA1301） and incubated in dark for 3 d. Based on the transient GUS gene expression analysis, 6-day-old young calli showed high transformation frequency followed by 21-day-old ones. Thus, both 6-and 21-day-old calli were used for assessing the stable transformation efficiency. It was observed that the 6-day-old young transformed calli showed about 2-fold higher regeneration frequency when compared with 21-day-old calli. The transformation efficiency was enhanced for young calli to 5.9% compared with 0.8% of the 21-day-old calli. Molecular and genetic analysis of transgenic plants （To） revealed the presence of 1-2 copies of T-DNA integration in transformants and it follows Mendalian ratio in T1 transgenic plants. From the present study, it was concluded that the development of transgenic rice plants in less duration with high regeneration and transformation efficiency was achieved in BPT 5204 by using 6-day-old young calli as explants.

Gene deletor： a new tool to address gene flow and food safety concerns over transgenic crop plants

Environmental and food safety concerns over transgenic plants have hampered commercial applications of transgenic plant technology worldwide. A recently developed transgene deletion technology, named gene deletor technology, may be used to eliminate all transgenes from pollen, seeds, fruits or other organs when functions of transgenes are no longer needed or their presence may cause concerns. In this review, I will briefly describe the principle of the gene deletor technology with major supporting experimental data. I will also explain main characteristics and requirements of the gene deletor technology. Finally, I will discuss the gene deletor technology in the context of how it may be used to alleviate environmental and food safety concerns over transgenic plants in vegetatively and sexually propagated plants, to prevent volunteer transgenic plants, to protect proprietary transgenic technologies, and to allow farmers to reuse their harvested seeds for future planting.