An Efficient Plant Regeneration and Transformation System of Robinia pseudoacacia var. umbraculifera for Phytoremediation

Robinia pseudoacacia var. umbraculifera, commonly called umbrella black locust were regenerated after co-cultivation of internode segments with Agrobacterium tumefaciens which included yeast cadmium factor 1 (YCF 1) gene. The tolerance to cadmium and lead for plants can be increased by the YCF1 gene expression. Moreover, the recent studies have shown that YCF1 gene transgenic plants increase the accumulation of cadmium and lead into plant vacuoles. The effect of plant growth regulator such as 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), ${\alpha}$-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), 6-benzyladenine (BA), and thidiazuron (TDZ) were studied to evaluate the propagation of plants through internode explants. The efficient induction of multiple adventitious shoots and callus were observed on a medium supplemented with 0.1 mg/L TDZ + 0.2 mg/L BA. To induce shoot elongation and rooting, regenerated shoots were transferred into basal MS medium without any plant growth regulator. Successful Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation was obtained by 20 min vacuum-infiltration with $50{\mu}M$ acetosyringone on the optimal multiple shoot induction medium with 30 mg/L hygromycin and 300 mg/L cefotaxime. To confirm the integration and expression of transgene, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Reverse Transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR) were performed with specific primers. The frequency of transformation was approximately 18.94%. This study can be used to genetic engineering of phytoremediator.