Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of Lupinus mutabilis L. using shoot apical explants

A procedure for regenerating plants of Lupinus mutabilis from shoot apices, from which the leaf primordia and initial cell layer(s) of the apical meristem were removed, has been used to generate transgenic plants following Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated gene delivery. Transformation competent cells, from which buds developed, were located at the periphery of the apical meristem. Kanamycin resistant plants were obtained which expressed β-glucuronidase activity. Integration of the neomycin phosphotransferase II and β-glucuronidase genes into the genomes of transgenic plants was confirmed by non-radioactive DNA-DNA hybridisation. This is the first report of the generation of transgenic plants in L. mutabilis.