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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Plant Gene Expression Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #320177
Title: Setaria viridis floral-dip: A simple and rapid Agrobacterium-medicated transformation method

Author
item MARTINS, P - Embrapa
item NAKAYAMA, T - Universidade Federal De Vicosa
item RIBEIRO, A - Embrapa
item BRIO DA CUNHA, B - Embrapa
item NEPOMUCENO, ALEX - Embrapa
item Harmon, Frank
item KOBAYASHI, A - Embrapa
item MOLINARI, HUGO - Embrapa

Submitted to: Plant Biotechnology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/27/2015
Publication Date: 3/4/2015
Citation: Martins, P.K., Nakayama, T.J., Ribeiro, A.P., Brio Da Cunha, B.A., Nepomuceno, A., Harmon, F.G., Kobayashi, A.K., Molinari, H.C. 2015. Setaria viridis floral-dip: A simple and rapid Agrobacterium-medicated transformation method. Plant Biotechnology. 6:61-63.

Interpretive Summary: Model plants have proved useful to understand biological phenomena in crop species. Setaria viridis is a monocotyledonous model species for C4 photosynthesis research. Here we report an alternative method to transform S. viridis using a simple and rapid floral dip procedure, which is in contrast to the current tissue culture-based method currently in use for S. viridis. We demonstrate the seeds and plants resulting from our procedure are stably transformed. Thus, floral dip transformation is feasible for S. viridis and represents a potentially timesaving and cost-effective approach compared to traditional methods. To our knowledge, this is the first report using floral dip in S. viridis as an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method.

Technical Abstract: Setaria viridis was recently described as a new monocotyledonous model species for C4 photosynthesis research and genetic transformation. It has biological attributes (rapid life cycle, small genome, diploid, short stature and simple growth requirements) that make it suitable for use as a model plant. We report an alternative method of S. viridis transformation using floral dip to circumvent the necessity of tissue culture phase for transgenic plant regeneration. S. viridis spikes at boot stage were selected to be immersed in Agrobacterium suspension. T1 seeds could be identified in 1.5–2 months after floral dipping. We demonstrated through molecular analysis and RFP expression that seeds and resulting plants from dipped inflorescences were transformed. Our results suggest the feasibility of S. viridis floral dip transformation as a time-saving and cost-effective compared with traditional methods. To our knowledge, this is the first report using floral dip in S. viridis as an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method.