Transient Expression of the β-Glucuronidase Gene in Shoot Primordia of Haplopappus gracilis by Use of a Pneumatic Particle Gun

Abstract

Expression of the β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene in shoot primordia of Haplopappus gracilis was obtained by particle bombardment. The efficiency of gene delivery was tested by accelerating the pressure from 115 to 200kg/cm², the number of bombardments from one to three, the amount of gold particles from 0.1 to 0.4mg per projectile, and the amount of plasmid DNA from 0.2 to 0.8μg/mg gold particles. Double bombardments of 200kg/cm² with projectiles having 0.2mg of gold particles coated with 8μg DNA/mg of gold gave 884±103 blue spots per petri dish (5.2cm diameter).