In vitro regeneration and Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of male- sterile marigold (Tagetes erecta L.)

In this study, we devised a method for the in vitro regeneration and subsequent genetic transformation of male sterile marigold. To our knowledge, this is the first report of generation of transgenic plants with a single genotype of marigold via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. We obtained four transgenic lines from two independent experiments with 496 leaf explants, which were inoculated by an Agrobacterium strain LBA4404 harboring the plasmid, pIG121-Hm. Although the efficiency of the transformation in our system was low, stable expression of uidA gene in adventitious shoots and compound leaves could be detected in β-glucuronidase histochemical analysis. This protocol contributes to the progress of genetic studies and molecular breeding of this species