An Efficient Recovery of Transgenic Plants From a Tropical Indian Maize Inbred Line

Abstract

Tropical Indian maize inbreds are known for their recalcitrance in tissue culture which is a prerequisite for development of transgenic lines from such cultivars. In the present study, particle bombardment-mediated transformation of a tropical Indian maize inbred line, UMI29 was attempted. Parameters that infulence transforamation efficiency such as size of embryo (1.5 mm and 2.0 mm), micro-carrier flying distance (6 cm and 9 cm) and post-bombardment resting period (2, 7 and 10 days) on transient and stable expression of transgene were investigated. The greatest transformation efficiency of 2.67% was obtained using immature embryos of 1.5 mm at 6 cm of microcarrier flying distance with a resting period of 2 days. Stable inheritance of transgenes, viz., gusA and bar was confirmed in T1 lines.