AGROBACTERIUM Vs BIOLISTIC METHOD OF TRANSFORMATION USING GUS REPORTER GENE IN SUGARCANE CALLI

摘要

Sugarcane is a monocot crop and it was not considered in the host range of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and biolistic method was used routinely for transformation. In the present study attempts were made to compare Agrobacterium mediated and biolistic method for sugarcane transformation. Calli derived from leaf sheath of sugarcane cultivar Co-86032 were co-cultivated using Agrobacterium strain GV-2260 harboring pCAMBIA 1301 with gus gene. Also, calli were bombarded using gold particles coated with same plasmid in separate experiments. Calli were screened histochemically for GUS expression using X-Gluc (Magenta colour) as substrate after two weeks. Number of GUS positive calli were two times more in biolistic method compared to Agrobactervum mediated transformation.