Development of Plant Regeneration and Genetic Transformation System from Shoot Apices of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench

Development of efficient plant regeneration and genetic transformation protocols (using the Particle Inflow micro-projectile Gun and the shoot-tips as target tissue) of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench in terms of expression of the reporter gene, $\beta$-glucuronidase(uidA) is reported here. Two Indian cultivars of sorghum were used in the study, viz. M-35-1 and CSV-15. Plant regeneration was achieved from one-week-old seedling shoot-tip explants via multiple-shoot-clumps and also somatic embryos. The multiple-shoot-clumps were produced on MS medium containing BA (0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 mg/$L^{-1}$), with biweekly subculture. Somatic embryos were directly produced on the enlarged dome shaped expansive structures that developed from shoot-tip explants (without any callus formation) when cultured on MS medium supplemented both with BA (0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 mg/$L^{-1}$) and 2,4-D (0.5 mg/$L^{-1}$). Whereas each multiple-shoot-clump was capable of regenerating more than 80 shoots via an intensive differentiation of both axillary and adventitious shoot buds, the somatic embryos were capable of 90% germination, plant conversion and regeneration. The regenerated shoots could be efficiently rooted on MS medium containing 1.0mg/$L^{-1}$ IBA and successfully transplanted to the glasshouse and grown to maturity with a survival rate of 92%. The plant regeneration efficiency of both the genotypes were similar. After the micro-projectile bombardment, expression of uidA gene was determined by scoring blue transformed cell sectors in the bombarded tissue by an in situ enzyme assay. The optimal conditions comprising a helium pressure of 2200 K Pa, the target distance of 11 cm with helium inlet fully opened and the use of osmoticum have been defined to aid our future strategies of genetic engineering in sorghum with genes for tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses.