Genetic transformation and overexpression of a rice Hd3a induces early flowering in Saussurea involucrata Kar. et Kir. ex Maxim

Saussurea involucrata is a valuable traditional Chinese medicinal herb. This is the first report of a successful genetic transformation protocol for S. involucrata using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Leaf explants were incubated with A. tumefaciens strain EHA105 harboring the binary vector pCAMBIA 1301, which contains the hpt gene as a selectable marker for hygromycin resistance and an intron-containing β-glucuronidase gene as a reporter gene. Following co-cultivation, about 23.7% of the explants produced hygromycin-resistant calli on MS basal medium (Murashige and Skoog in Physiol Plant 15: 473–497, 1962) supplemented with 1 mg l−1 benzyladenine (BA), 0.1 mg l−1 α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), 0.1 mg l−1 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), 20 mg l−1 hygromycin, and 500 mg l−1 cefotaxime. Shoots were regenerated following transfer of the resistant calli to shoot induction medium containing 1.5 mg l−1 BA, 0.1 mg l−1 NAA, 0.25 mg l−1 gibberellic acid (GA3), 20 mg l−1 hygromycin, and 250 mg l−1 cefotaxime, and about 67.5% of the resistant calli differentiated into shoots. Finally, 80% of the hygromycin-resistant shoots rooted on MS media supplemented with 0.2 mg l−1 NAA, 20 mg l−1 hygromycin, and 250 mg l−1 cefotaxime. The transgenic nature of the transformants was demonstrated by detection of β-glucuronidase activity in the primary transformants and by Southern blot hybridization analysis. About 16% of the total inoculated leaf explants produced transgenic plants after approximately 5 months. Using this optimized transformation system, a rice ortholog of the Arabidopsis FLOWERING LOCUS T gene, Hd3a, was transferred into S. involucrata. Introduction of this gene caused an early-flowering phenotype in S. involucrata.