Maize

Establishment of transformation systems using mature seeds of maize inbred lines

“…Maize or corn (Zea mays L. ssp. Mays) is the third most cultivated crop in the world (after wheat and rice) (Torney et al, 2007). It is an important crop for alimentary, cultural, economic, and scientific reasons.…”

“…From ancient to modern cultures, maize has been a staple food in several regions in America and Africa (Barreiro, 1989) and has thousands of uses. It is the most important crop used for food and feed around the world (Torney et al, 2007).…”

“…In addition to being major feed and food sources, maize is used for many other industrial purposes, including starch plastic, sweeteners, paper, adhesives, additives, etc (Johnson, 2000). Lately, probably the area that draws most attention is the production of ethanol from maize to be used as a biofuel (Torney et al, 2007). Today, the United States, China, the European Union, Brazil and Mexico are the world's largest producers of maize (Meng et al, 2000).…”

“…The biolistic gun system is an apparatus capable to deliver high-velocity microparticles. This system relies in the acceleration of microparticles coated with DNA, which are forced to penetrate into the target tissue (Torney et al, 2007). The gun used for biolistic was reported for the first time by Klein et al (1987) and later fertile plants were recovered using this system .…”

“…There are two important aspects to be considered when selecting a tissue to be suitable for genetic transformation: competence and regenerability. Competence reflects the ability of a cell/tissue to be transformed by receiving DNA and then regenerate in a full fertile plant suitable to inherit the trait for which it was transformed to the descendants (Torney et al, 2007). In general, the desirable target tissue would be the one from which genetic transformation can be achieved on the germ-line cells and also that it can maintained for a shorter period on tissue culture conditions since it has been observed that an extended period is associated with an increase of somaclonal variation .…”