Production of transgenic soybean by the half-seed explant

Soybean (Glycine max)، one of the most important agronomic crops in the world، is considered as a rich source of oil and protein production and much effort has been directed towards its genetic improvements using conventional breeding techniques، as well as molecular genetic approaches. Meanwhile، optimization of transformation of soybean requires an efficient system for production of stable transgenic lines. In this study، we reported the first attempt to use the cotyledonary node derived from mature seed for Agrobacterium mediate plant transformation in Iran. Surface-sterilized soybean seeds of DPX and Gorgan3 cultivars were soaked in distilled water overnight and used for explant production. The explants were inoculated in Agrobacterium tumefaciense (LBA4404) containing pBI121 solution. Positive transgenic plants which remained green in the presence of kanamycin، as a selectable marker، were used for the GUS assay. PCR، sequencing and the GUS assay showed successful expression of the GUS gene in the regenerated plants in both cultivars. Simplicity and efficiency were the main advantages of using the half-seed method which can be used to introduce useful and/or novel gene (s) into soybean.