In vitro selection of transgenic soybean lines obtained from somatic embryos transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Abstract

Although genetic transformation in Glycine max has been intensively investigated, the process remains ineffective. In the present work, for the first time, the in vitro selection of transgenic lines of soybean variety Incasoy-27 is addressed. From somatic embryos transformed with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105, the regeneration of three lines of supposedly transformed plants that showed resistance to phosphinothricin 6.0 mg l-1 was achieved. GUS histochemical analysis demonstrated stable expression of the uidA gene in leaves of two plant lines. Subsequently, the presence of the bar and uidA genes in two regenerated lines was confirmed with the polymerase chain reaction; while in the third line the band referring to the uidA gene was found but it was not possible to demonstrate the presence of the bar gene. In conclusion, is possible to in vitro select transgenic lines of soybean variety Incasoy-27, with expression of the uidA and bar genes in the genome of the transformed plants and 0.30% efficiency.