A convenient Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transgenic system for diploid and tetraploid potatoes

Abstract

As the fourth staple food crop in the world, potatoes can provide enough energy, protein, and nutrients necessary for humans. However, the negative effects of climate change and population growth call for improved potato yields and resilience. Genetic engineering is a convenient way to improve potato varieties and create new germplasm resources. Some important traits may be obtained through transgenic technology, such as drought, heat, cold tolerance, and increasing the concentration of micronutrients in tubers. Therefore, Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation is a stable and widely used method for genetic improvement. In this study, a convenient transgenic system on two diploid potatoes and one popular tetraploid potato variety (Desiree) were transformed using this process. A simple and easy complete transgenic system was built by obtaining positive transformed seedlings in 40 days, and the positive transgenic efficiencies of diploid and tetraploid recipient materials were 3.75–8.45% and 70%, respectively. This fast transgenic system provides a powerful tool for supporting basic research on functional genes and creating new materials for genetic engineering breeding. The new genetic transformation system has the advantages of greater time efficiencies and fewer operation steps which can accelerate the process of candidate gene verification.