A STUDY OF SOME FACTORS AFFECTING AGROBACTERIUM TRANSFORMATION AND PLANT-REGENERATION OF DENDRANTHEMA-GRANDIFLORA TZVELEV (SYN CHRYSANTHEMUM-MORIFOLIUM RAMAT)

In an attempt to develop a system for producing transformed plants from explants of Dendranthema grandiflora, the susceptibility of the cultivar Super White to various wild-type strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes was investigated. Tumour formation was not a reliable indicator of the ability of a related disarmed strain to mediate transformation. Following inoculation of explants with disarmed Agrobacterium strains, a number of shoots developed on selective media. However, none of these shoots were transformed. By co-cultivating stem internode explants with a mixed inoculum of wild-type and disarmed strains, it was possible to obtain a callus stably transformed with Agrobacterium carrying a disarmed T-DNA. Histological analysis of explants revealed that shoot regeneration initially occurred from the cells of the epidermis and subsequently from the cortex. However, the cells which were susceptible to T-DNA transfer were confined to the vascular tissue.