A procedure is given for the regeneration in vitro of a previously difficult to regenerate plant, ... Introduction ... These characteristics include a short life cycle,.
Plant Science, 47 (1986) 63--69
63
Elsevier Scientific Publishers Ireland Ltd.
RAPID AND E F F I C I E N T R E G E N E R A T I O N OF PLANTS FROM EXPLANTS OF ARABIDOPSIS T H A L I A N A
KENNETH A. FELDMANN and M. DAVID MARKS
Zoecon Research Institute, 975 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304 (U.S.A.) (Received July 14th, 1986) (Revision received August 18th, 1986) (Accepted August 20th, 1986) A procedure is given for the regeneration in vitro of a previously difficult to regenerate plant, Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. Leaf explants of Arabidopsis that are given a short exposure to a callus-inducing medium prior to incubation o n a shoot-inducing medium exhibit high survivability and rapidly produce shoots. Some media combinations allow shoots to form o n 100% of the explants and the majority of these explants form multiple shoots. The shoots are normal in appearance and most of them can be induced to form functional roots and retain fertility. This regeneration scheme should be of use in the development of an Arabidopsis transformation procedure and may also be applicable to other recalcitrant plant species.
Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. a small cleistogamous plant of the family Cruciferae, has been a model system for the study of biological problems in plants for over 40 years [ 1]. The many characteristics which make it attractive to plant physiologists and geneticists are attracting molecular biologists [2--4]. These characteristics include a short life cycle, small size, large seed output, and a small genome. One factor that limits the widespread use of A rabidopsis for molecular studies is the lack of an efficient transformation system. A major problem in this regard is the lack of a procedure for the efficient regeneration of fertile plants from transformed (or non-transformed) tissues of Arabidopsis [ 5,6]. The traditional scheme for shoot regeneration from cultures of Arabidopsis is to initiate Abbreviations: IBA, indolebutyric acid; CIM, callusinducing medium; IAA, indoleacetic acid; SIM, shootinducing medium; 2,4-D, 2,4
