A study published in Frontiers in Plant Science shows a rapid, simple, and highly efficient hairy root transformation system induced by Agrobacterium rhizogenes for functional analysis of citrus genes. This technology is highly beneficial for plant gene research and molecular improvement breeding.

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation technology is commonly used in plant gene function research. However, this technology tends to be time-consuming, high-risk, and unstable in functional research of root-related genes. Hence, the researchers established a highly efficient genetic transformation with non-tissue-culture in citrus seeds for the first time.

The results of the study show that Agrobacterium rhizogenes pose a greater effect on the transformation efficiency of Citrus sinensis seeds. The findings of this study are valuable for studying plant gene function in the future, specifically for subcellular localization, gene overexpression analysis, and CRISPR-Cas9 mediated gene editing research.

[www.frontiersin.org]