Frontiers in Plant Science (Feb 2019)
An Improved Transformation System for Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) via Sonication and a Kanamycin-Geneticin Selection Regime
Abstract
An improved cowpea transformation method utilizing Agrobacterium-mediated gene delivery to explants derived from the cotyledonary nodes of imbibed cowpea seed is described. The explants were regenerated following a sonication procedure and a stringent selection comprising alternating regimes of kanamycin and geneticin. The method was reproducible and led to the recovery of independent fertile transgenic plants in the greenhouse at a level of about one per cent of starting explants. A transgene encoding an insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis was used to demonstrate the efficacy of the system.
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