177 TRANSGENIC PEACH PLANTS CONTAINING A CYTOKININ BIOSYNTHESIS GENE DISPLAY ALTERED GROWTH IN VITRO AND UNDER GREENHOUSE CONDITIONS

Abstract

Transgenic plants containing introduced phytohorm one genes have been shown to display altered growth and morphogenetic potential. Peach plants transformed with the ipt gene from Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain tms 328::T n5 and containing elevated levels of cytokinins were screened in vitro for compact growth habit on four different levels of 6-benzyladenine (BA). After nine weeks in vitro, the average number of axillary shoots per plant foe two of the transformants, 99-1 and 40-1, ranged from 1.5 to 6.6 times that for the controls on 0-30 uM of BA, whereas average fresh weight ranged from 1.1 to 3.6 times that for the controls. One of the transformants, 94-1, produced a greater number of axillary shoots only on 30 μM BA. Rooted plants derived through micropropagation from the original transformants were monitored for 30 months under greenhouse conditions. The average height of transformants 94-1 and 99-1 after six months in the greenhouee was 88 and 77% of controls, respectively and after 30 months was 90 and 75% of controls, respectively. In comparison to controls, transformants exhibited a greater number of branches per meter per plant after six weeks, but a lesser number after 30 months. These results suggest that the introduction of a cytokinin gene may be a useful approach to obtaining peach trees with a compact growth habit.