Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) embryo axes and the development of transgenic plants.

Transgenic peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) plants have been produced using an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system. Zygotic embryo axes from mature seed were cocultured with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA101 harboring a binary vector that contained the genes for the scorable marker B-glucuronidase (GUS) and the selectable marker neomycin phosphotransferase II. Nine percent of the germinated seedlings were GUS+. Polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed that GUS+ shoots and T1 progeny contained T-DNA. Molecular characterization of one primary transformant and its T1 and T2 progeny plants established that T-DNA was integrated into the host genome.