Agrobacterium tumefaciens -Mediated Transformation of Maize Endosperm as a Tool to Study Endosperm Cell Biology

• Published in: Plant physiology (Bethesda) 2010-06, Vol.153 (2), p.624-631
• Main Authors: Reyes, Francisca C., Sun, Beimeng, Guo, Hena, Gruis, Darren (Fred), Otegui, Marisa S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agrobacterium tumefaciens; Agrobacterium tumefaciens - genetics; Aleurone cells; Antibodies; Biological and medical sciences; Breakthrough Technologies; Cellular differentiation; Coculture techniques; Corn; Cultured cells; Endosperm; Endosperm - cytology; Endosperm - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Green Fluorescent Proteins - genetics; Microscopy, Fluorescence; Molecular Sequence Data; Plant physiology and development; Plants, Genetically Modified - genetics; Plasmids; Seed Storage Proteins - metabolism; Storage proteins; Transformation, Genetic; Transgenic plants; Zea mays - genetics
• ISSN: 0032-0889; 1532-2548; 1532-2548
• DOI: 10.1104/pp.110.154930

Developing maize (Zea mays) endosperms can be excised from the maternal tissues and undergo tissue/cell-type differentiation under in vitro conditions. We have developed a method to transform in vitro-grown endosperms using Agrobacterium tumefaciens and standard binary vectors. We show that both aleurone and starchy endosperm cells can be successfully transformed using a short cocultivation with A. tumefaciens cells. The highest transformation rates were obtained with the A. tumefaciens EHA101 strain and the pTF101.1 binary vector. The percentage of aleurone cells transformed following this method varied between 10% and 22% whereas up to the eighth layer of starchy endosperm cells underneath the aleurone layer showed transformed cells. Cultured endosperms undergo normal cell type (aleurone and starchy endosperm) differentiation and storage protein accumulation, making them suitable for cell biology and biochemical studies. In addition, transgenic cultured endosperms are able to express and accumulate epitope-tagged storage proteins that can be isolated for biochemical assays or used for immunolabeling techniques.