INHERITANCE OF KANAMYCIN AND ETHIONINE RESISTANCE INTRODUCED IN ALFALFA (MEDICAGO-SATIVA L) BY GENE-TRANSFER AND CELL SELECTION

Fertile kanamycin resistant plants of Medicago sativa L. were obtained by genetic transformation with binary vector of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and were used as a fertilizer of L-ethionine (ETH) resistant alfalfa variants. The dominant nature of both kanamycin and L-ethionine resistant traits was demonstrated by the double resistant phenotype of obtained hybrid plants. Southern blot analysis showed that transgenic plants and self-pollinated progeny harbored the kanamycin gene, and expressed the neomycin phosphotransferase (npt) activity in vitro. The inheritance of both single (kanamycin) and double (kanamycin and L-ethionine) resistance traits was analyzed and the way in which marker characters are segregated is discussed.