African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (18), pp. 2162-2165, 19 September 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

agrobacterium mediated transformation of tunisian Cucumis melo cv. maazoun

RHIMI Awatef¹, HERNOULD Michel² and BOUSSAID Mohamed¹

¹Department of Biology, Laboratory of Plant Biotechnology, National Institute of Applied Science and Technology (INSAT), Centre Urbain Nord, B.P. 6761080, Tunis Cedex, Tunisia.

²Laboratory of Cellular Biology and Plant Biotechnology, INRA - IBVM - UMR 619 CRA de Bordeaux 71, Avenue Edouard Bourleaux, B.P. 8133883 Villenave d'Ornon Cedex, France.

*Corresponding author: E-mail: mohamed.boussaid@insat.rnu.tn. Phone: (+216)71703829 / 929. Fax: (+216)71704329.

Accepted 23 February, 2007

Transgenic Cucumis melo cv. Maazoun containing the neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPT II) chimeric gene conferring resistance to kanamycin were obtained from cotyledons explants inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (GV3101) that contained the binary vector plasmid pADI. Transformed shoots were obtained on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 1.50 mgl^-1 IAA, 0.10mgl^-1 BAP, 0.01 mgl^-1 NAA and 6 mgl^-1 kinetin. Transformants were selected by using only 100 mgl^-1 of kanamycin and 4 days of pre-culture. Putative transformants were confirmed for transgene insertion through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. From the inoculated explants, 6.66% produced transgenic shoots.   

Key words: Cucumis melo, genetic transformation, kanamycin, culture medium, PCR analysis.