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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Plant Science Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #141825
Title: RECENT ADVANCES IN LEGUME TRANSFORMATION

Author
item SOMERS, DAVID - UNIV OF MINNESOTA
item Samac, Deborah - Debby
item OLHOFT, PAULA - UNIV OF MINNESOTA

Submitted to: Plant Physiology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/26/2002
Publication Date: 3/1/2003
Citation: SOMERS, D.A., SAMAC, D.A., OLHOFT, P.M. RECENT ADVANCES IN LEGUME TRANSFORMATION. PLANT PHYSIOLOGY. 2003. V. 131. P. 892-899.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Legumes are a large, diverse family ranging from herbaceous annuals to woody perennials that are essential components in natural and managed terrestrial ecosystems because of their capacity to fix nitrogen. Accordingly, model legumes are being rapidly developed as experimental systems to pursue a number of important biological questions unique to these plants using molecular tools including genomics. A key component of most functional genomics approaches is a high throughput transformation system useful for developing various gene identification strategies. Legumes, in general, have been classified as recalcitrant to transformation. Plant regeneration of many legumes remains an "art" that requires considerable training to perfect. Because inducing somatic embryogenesis or organogenesis in many legume species is difficult, a variety of transformation methods have been reported that use cultures of meristematic cells as sources of totipotent cells. Regeneration of shoots from the cotyledonary node or from other meristematic explants after Agrobacterium infection is emerging as a rapid and relatively efficient method of transformation in a number of legume species. In this Update, we report recent advances in transformation of forage and pasture, grain and pulse, and tree legumes. Aspects of transformation system components that have resulted in improvements in transformation efficiency of legumes will also be discussed. Finally, we speculate on possible avenues for developing non-tissue culture transformation systems for legumes.