U.S.-Italy Cooperative Research: Stable Transformation of Leguminous Plants

该奖项将支持华盛顿州立大学的Paul F.Lurquin博士和意大利那不勒斯大学的Filippone和Pza博士之间的合作研究。该项目的目标是优化各种豆科植物的基因转移频率，并探索从嵌合体植物生产稳定和均质转化植株的技术。豆科植物对基因工程的抗性是出了名的。未能产生转基因豆类通常归因于这样一个事实，即在体外生长的转化愈伤组织细胞无法再生出可育植株。研究人员已经开发出一种不需要组织培养步骤的转化程序，并允许回收大比例的嵌合转基因植株。这一过程取决于分离的成熟胚胎与根癌农杆菌的共培养，然后在非选择性培养基上进行植株发育。特异性染色表明，大量的此类植株含有表达转基因的各种组织。这两个实验室基本上是互补的，意大利的实验室拥有强大的植物组织培养和细胞遗传学成分，而美国的实验室精通分子和微生物技术。三名研究生目前正在华盛顿州立大学从事这一项目。这一合作的结果最终将提高美国种植的豌豆、小扁豆和鹰嘴豆的质量；由于意大利实验室与IITA和ICARDA之间存在密切联系，这项技术将转移到大规模种植豌豆和鹰嘴豆的发展中国家(中东和非洲)。//

This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Paul F. Lurquin of Washington State University and Drs. Filippone and Penza of the University of Naples, Italy. The objective of the project is to optimize gene transfer frequencies in a variety of leguminous plants and to explore techniques for the production of stably and homogeneously transformed plants from chimeric ones. Leguminous plants are notoriously refractory to genetic engineering. Failure to produce transgenic legumes is generally attributed to the fact that fertile plants cannot be regenerated from transformed callus cells growing in vitro. The investigators have developed a transformation procedure that does not require a tissue culture step and allows recovery of large proportions of plantlets chimeric for a transgene. This procedure hinges on the cocultivation of isolated mature embryos with Agrobacterium tumefaciens followed by plantlet development on nonselective medium. Specific staining indicated that large number of such plantlets contain a variety of tissues expressing the transgene. The two laboratories are essentially complementary, the Italian laboratory having a strong plant tissue culture and cytogenetic component, while the US laboratory is well versed in molecular and microbial techniques. Three graduate students are currently working on the project at Washington State University. The results of this collaboration will eventually improve the quality of pea, lentil, and chickpea plants grown in the US; the technology will be transferred to developing countries where cowpea and chickpea are grown on a large scale (the Middle East and Africa), thanks to the close links that exist between the Italian laboratory and IITA and ICARDA. //