Genetic transformation of the banana hybrid cultivar ‘FHIA-18’ (Musa sp.) via particle bombardment using argon gas

Abstract

Bananas and plantains (Musa spp.) are extremely essential and important for about 400 million people in many developing countries across the world. In the Caribbean, both bananas and plantains are grown, but the banana cultivars are the most exported. Agriculture plays an important role in Belize’s economy and remains a major driver for the economy’s growth. The banana industry is the third export crop of Belize behind sugar cane and citrus and provides a significant base for employment and income generation in Belize. This work was carried out with the objective of studying parameters that influence the transient expression of the enzyme β-glucuronidase in cell suspensions of the banana hybrid cultivar ‘FHIA-18’ (Musa sp. AAAB). Studies were done with three distances and four pressures using a low pressure gene gun with argon gas. Results of this experiment revealed the importance of the distance and pressure of bombardment, with the most effective, being 9 cm and 140 psi respectively with the significant difference to the other treatments. Different plasmid constructs were also studied and those under the control of the maize polyubiquitin promoter showed higher efficiencies than the CaMV 35S promoter. Biological factors are also of great importance and the physiological age of the cell suspensions confirmed its fundamental role in transformation efficiencies with the best results obtained when cell suspensions collected between 5 and 10 days after the last subculture were used. PCR and Southern blot analyses confirmed the presence of the transgene into the plant genome.