662 PB 078 STABLE TRANSFORMATION OF GLADIOLUS PLANTS

Abstract

Over one hundred Gladiolus plants of the commercially important cultivars `Jenny Lee' and `Peter Pears' have been stably transformed following particle bombardment on regenerable callus, suspension cells, or cormel slices. The phosphinothricin acetyltransferase gene which confers phosphinothricin resistance was cotransformed with either antiviral genes or the uidA reporter gene coding for β- glucuronidase expression. Transformed plants were regenerated following selection on concentrations of phosphinothricin which varied with the type of tissue used for bombardment. Integration of foreign DNA was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and gene expression.