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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of dormant lateral buds in poplar trees reveals developmental patterns in secondary stem tissues

Antanas V. Spokevicius A , Kim S. Van Beveren A and Gerd Bossinger A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Forest and Ecosystem Science, The University of Melbourne, Water Street, Creswick, Vic. 3363, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: gerd@unimelb.edu.au

Functional Plant Biology 33(2) 133-139 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP05176
Submitted: 19 July 2005  Accepted: 21 September 2005   Published: 3 February 2006

Abstract

In an attempt to devise a method for the rapid creation of somatic transgenic wood sectors of sufficient size that would allow us to detect and analyse altered wood characteristics within them, we have explored the manual wounding and subsequent infection with Agrobacterium of dormant lateral buds in poplar. Following treatment and transformation with a 35S–GUS construct, frequent stable transformation was found in the form of distinct and specific GUS staining patterns in the outer cortex, cambial region (including primary and secondary xylem and phloem) and pith. Sector frequency and size were consistent with anatomical features of dormant lateral buds at the time of manual wounding and Agrobacterium-infection. The suitability of somatic sector analysis for functional genomic studies as well as for studies investigating pattern formation and the developmental fate of various cell-types within poplar stems is discussed.


Acknowledgments

We thank Lawrie Wilson, Zander Myburg and Simon Southerton for critically reading our manuscript. During this study AVS held an Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry) from the Australian Research Council (ARC). Financial support from the ARC and SAPPI (South Africa) is gratefully acknowledged. Finally thanks to everyone in the Tree Developmental Biology and Forest Biotechnology group for contributing to a creative research environment.


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