Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of round leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia L.)

Agrobacterium tumefaciens -mediated genetic transformation method of the carnivorous medicinal plant round leaved sundew ( Drosera rotundifolia L.) was developed. The micropropagation conditions of sundew aseptically germinated seeds were defined and the internal kanamycin resistance of sundew was tested. Transformation was made by cocultivation of micropropagated sundew leaves with A. tumefaciens strain C58C1 containing a cointegrate plasmid vector with neomycin phosphotransferase and luciferase genes. Transgenic sundews were selected for kanamycin resistance and viable, fully developed plantlets were further assayed by luciferase activity and by PCR and Southern analyses using luc -primers and a luc -probe. The transformation efficiency of D. rotundifolia L. was 17%. Sundew is an important source of pharmacologically active 1,4-naphthoquinones, and genetic transformation allows the engineering of its biochemical pathways.