Abstract
Fonio (Digitaria exilis) is a crop grown in Africa for its excellent culinary and nutritional properties and is a valuable source of income for smallholder farmers. Its improvement has long been neglected by scientists because the crop was one of the lost crops of Africa. Recent advances in Fonio research are centered on its evolution, nutritional and economic values. The lack of a transformation and other biotechnology protocols developed for Fonio has greatly hindered genetic improvement of this crop. In this study, Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation was developed for two genotypes of D. exilis (‘Agyong’ and ‘Churiwe’). Three-weeks-old callus derived from stem segments were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens for 3 days. After selection on Hygromycin B medium, plants were regenerated on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.5 mg l-1 BA and 0.1 mg l-1 gibberellic acid. Regenerated shoots were rooted on hormone-free MS medium. Histochemical gus assay and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) confirmed the presence of the gus gene in transformed tissues. The transformation frequency was 2.1 and 2.7% for “Agyong” and “Churiwe”, respectively. The transgenic plants were phenotypically normal. This protocol would provide useful platform for genetic improvement of this crop. Key words: Digitaria exilis. Transfomation efficiency, β-glucuronidase (GUS) assay, Agrobacterium tumefaciens.
Highlights
Fonio (Digitaria exilis) is a C4 annual herb that tillers freely
Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation was developed for two genotypes of D. exilis („Agyong‟ and „Churiwe‟)
Three-weeks-old callus derived from stem segments were co-cultivated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens for 3 days
Summary
Fonio (Digitaria exilis) is a C4 annual herb that tillers freely. It is a native of West Africa and belongs to the family Poaceae, sub-family Panicoideae and tribe Paniceae. There are two important cultivated species in the genus, namely, D. exilis and Digitaria iburua. Information is available on the nutritional and physiochemical property of the crop (Temple and Bassa, 1991; Jideani and Akingbala, 1993; Jideani et al, 1994, 1996; Chukwu and Abdul-Kadir, 2008; Ballogou et al, 2013) as well as cultivation and uses of Fonio (Jideani, 1999). The use of genetic transformation as a tool for crop improvement and for the development of functional genomics is well documented, literature on in vitro cultures or genetic engineering of Fonio is lacking. A protocol is given for transformation of D. exilis based on Agrobacterium-mediated technology
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