An intensive understanding of vacuum infiltration transformation of pakchoi (Brassica rapa ssp. chinensis)

Pakchoi (Brassica rapa L. ssp. chinensis), a kind of Chinese cabbage, is an important vegetable in Asian countries. Agrobacterium mediated in planta vacuum infiltration transformation has been performed in pakchoi since 1998, but a detailed study on this technique was lacking. Pakchoi plants 40-50 days old with inflorescences were vacuum infiltrated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain C58C1 harboring the binary vector pBBBast-gus-intron. The transformation frequency in the harvested seeds mainly varied from 1 x 10(-4) to 3 x 10(-4) over several years, and it was lower than the frequency in Arabidopsis thaliana. Transformants were obtained from both the upper and the lower parts of the infiltrated plants with or without an elongated inflorescence. Stained ovules and pollen grains were found in the unopened flower 13 days post-infiltration, which was about 0.5-1 mm in diameter at infiltration time with an open ovary as revealed by paraffin sections. Histochemical assays revealed that Agrobacteria were more abundant in the flower tissue than in stem and leaf tissues at all times after infiltration despite the sharp decrease of live Agrobacteria in plant 14 days post infiltration as revealed by the colony forming units on the Agrobacteria culture medium. The results of vacuum infiltration transformation of pakchoi and Arabidopsis thaliana were compared and a strategy to optimize the transformation conditions to increase the transformation frequency in pakchoi was discussed.