Rapid and efficient in vitro regeneration of transplastomic potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) plants after particle bombardment

In contrast with traditional nuclear gene transformation, transplastomic technology has opened a new horizon for the transgenic plant research that offers several beneficial aspects including the convenient use of transgene stacking and the generation of high expression levels of foreign proteins. However, this technology has been well adopted and established in tobacco, the introduction and adoption of cost-effective, swift, and reproducible protocol for in vitro regeneration of transplastomic potato is challenging and laborious. The present research aimed to develop such prompt and efficient protocol to instigate and revive the regeneration potential with the combinations of different plant growth regulators (PGRs). Leaves and internodal explants from four potato cultivars were transformed with chloroplast transformation vector via particle bombardment and cultured on MS media supplemented with suitable PGRs and selection agents. Leaf explants of cultivar Kuroda induced highest (92%) number of calli where cultivar Sante produced the highest (85.7%) transplastomic shoots. Thidiazuron was found more proficient (41%) for shoot regeneration. Finally, within only seven weeks, we got 21 spectinomycin resistant shoot, and 16 of those showed integration of target genes into the plastome in PCR screening.