Somatic embryogenesis and shoot regeneration from transgenic roots of the cherry rootstock Colt (Prunus avium×P. pseudocerasus) mediated by pRi 1855 T-DNA of Agrobacterium rhizogenes.

Hairy roots were obtained after inoculation with Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain NCPPB 1855 of the in-vitro-grown shoots of the cherry rootstocks Colt (Prunus avium×P. pseudocerasus) and Mazzard F12/1 (P. avium L.). Not all putatively transgenic roots were able to grow in hormone-free medium. Mazzard F12/1 roots, induced with A. rhizogenes, did not differentiate any shoot or embryo, while both somatic embryos and shoots differentiated from the transgenic roots of Colt in medium containing 1 mg/l 6-benzylaminopurine and 1 mg/l 1-naphthaleneacetic acid. Somatic embryos were capable of secondary embryogenesis, but few developed into whole plants. DNA hybridization showed both a different number of bands and signal intensity in each of the five transgenic shoot clones and embryos examined. In a morphogenetic in vitro test, leaf explants of the transgenic shoot clones showed an increased capacity to differentiate roots, although clones differed in their sensitivity to the hormone ratio. Clones from the transgenic shoots had not only an increased rooting ability when grown in vitro but also exhibited various hairy root phenotypes when cultured in vitro and when transferred into the greenhouse.