Variability in growth and biosynthetic activity of Calendula officinalis hairy roots

Calendula officinalis is a widespread medicinal plant with a sufficiently well-studied chemical composition. Secondary metabolites synthesized by C.officinalis plants have pharmacological value for...

Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Maize of Ukrainian Breeding - Cytology and Genetics

Abstract Since Ukraine is a powerful maize exporter in the world, screening genotypes susceptible to genetic transformation among those cultivated on its territory and the development of an effective technology for the transformation of maize of Ukrainian breeding are relevant. Precultivated immature maize embryos of nine genotypes (inbred lines and hybrids) were subjected to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Three strains of A. tumefaciens and three vector constructs, which contained the selective marker gene of neomycin phosphotransferase II, as well as the reporter genes of green fluorescent protein or β-glucuronidase, were used in the work. Transgenic plants were selected on nutrient media with paromomycin. For six genotypes, shoot regeneration was observed after transformation on selective media. The presence of transgenes in 43 clones obtained from four genotypes using all available vectors was revealed by the PCR method. The transformation frequency varied from 0 to 27% in individual experiments. A strong correlation was found between frequencies of the regeneration and the transformation between genotypes and donor plants of the same genotype. The use of the pCB271 vector, which contained monocot nucleotide sequences of gene expression regulation upstream of the selective marker gene, namely the intron of the maize hsp70 gene, significantly increased the frequency of shoot regeneration after transformation. Analysis of T1 generation plants revealed single-locus integration of transgenes into the plant genome. The proposed protocol of genetic transformation using paromomycin as a selective agent is effective in obtaining transgenic maize lines and hybrids of Ukrainian breeding. Three genotypes (inbred line DK232 and hybrids KP7×PRZh5 and KS277×RS15) were selected as the most susceptible among tested genotypes to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and promising for further research on the production of transgenic maize plants.

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Marriage of synthetic biology and 3D printing produces programmable living materials

Scientists are harnessing cells to make new types of materials that can grow, repair themselves and even respond to their environment. These solid "engineered living materials" are made by embedding cells in an inanimate matrix that's formed in a desired shape. Now, researchers report in ACS Central Science that they have 3D printed a bioink containing plant cells that were then genetically modified, producing programmable materials. Applications could someday include biomanufacturing and sustainable construction.

Researchers introduce valuable traits in plants without creating transgenic plants

Academic researchers and companies in the agricultural biotechnology sector will be able to use a patent-pending Purdue University biology innovation to introduce valuable traits to plants without integrating novel DNA into a plant's genome.

Cryo-EM structure of the Agrobacterium tumefaciens T4SS-associated T-pilus reveals stoichiometric protein-phospholipid assembly

The A. tumefaciens T-pilus is involved in interkingdom conjugation. Kreida and Akihiro et al. report the cryo-EM structure of the assembled T-pilus, composed of VirB2 proteins and PG. The structure suggests that the T-pilus is an unlikely conduit for ssDNA transfer and will help in elucidating its role in conjugation.

New transporter for recycling of bacterial cell wall found

A transporter which some bacteria use to recycle fragments of their cell wall has been discovered by researchers at Umeå university, Sweden. They found that the transporter controls resistance to certain kinds of cell-wall targeting antibiotics.