EFFICIENT REGENERATION AND AGROBACTERIUM TUMEFACIENS MEDIATED GENETIC TRANSFORMATION OF POTATO (SOLANUM TUBEROSUM L.)

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is highly demandable world food crop and has become a staple food in many parts of the world including Turkey, India and China. Potato under in vitro culture condition is recalcitrant and genotype dependent. Therefore, we tested several factors to enhance regeneration and genetic transformation efficiency of Turkish potato genotypes. The influence of physical factors and conditions in Agrobacterium mediated transformation of the potato leaves was tested. Using the best combination (10 mg L-1 ZR, 10 mg L-1 NAA) with Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, we regenerated independent putative transformants 61.6% of the total explants cultured. GUS and nptII positive plants were confirmed by molecular analysis (PCR) that showed transformation rate of 24.16%. The protocol described here is simple, efficient, and produces transgenic plant in 7-8 weeks after inoculation with Agrobacterium bacterium.