Abstract
Genetic transformation in Brassica vegetables, especially cabbage (B. oleracea L. var. capitata) and Chinese cabbage (B. rapa L. (syn. B. campestris L.) ssp. pekinensis), has been difficult, probably because of their low regeneration ability in tissue and cell culture. Varietal differences in the regeneration ability were examined among 36 cultivars of B. oleracea and B. rapa in tissue culture. We found a wide varietal difference in the frequency of shoots regenerated from hypocotyls and cotyledonary petioles. Using 11 cultivars with high regeneration ability and 5 doubled haploid (DH) lines derived from 2 cultivars, transgenic plants were obtained from 7 cultivars and 3 DH lines. The transformants were confirmed by histochemical β-glucuronidase gene activity and PCR analysis. From these results, we believe Agrobacterium-mediated transformation can be effectively applied for breeding of Brassica vegetables.
