Co-transformed, diploid Lolium perenne (perennial ryegrass), Lolium multiflorum (Italian ryegrass) and Lolium temulentum (darnel) plants produced by microprojectile bombardment

A total of 37 plants (30 Lolium multiflorum Lam., 6 L. perenne L., 1 L. temulentum L.) were regenerated from cell suspension colonies bombarded with plasmid DNAs encoding a hygromycin resistance gene (HYG) expressed under a CaMV35S promoter and a β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene expressed under a truncated rice actin1 promoter and first intron, or a maize ubiquitin promoter and first intron. Resistant plants were regenerated under hygromycin selection and transferred to soil. PCR analysis showed that the co-transformation frequency of the GUS gene varied from 33% to 78% of transformants, while histochemical staining of leaf tissue from soil-grown plants showed that the co-expression frequency varied from 37% to 50%. The transgenic nature of the plants was demonstrated by Southern hybridisation analysis, which also showed that the non-selected (GUS) gene was generally present at a higher copy number than the selected (HYG) gene. Received: 10 October 1997 / Revision received: 18 March 1998 / Accepted: 29 November 1998