TRANSGENIC REGAL PELARGONIUMS THAT EXPRESS THE rolC GENE FROM AGROBACTERIUM RHIZOGENES EXHIBIT A DWARF FLORAL AND VEGETATIVE PHENOTYPE

The regal pelargonium, cv. Dubonnet, was transformed using the disarmed Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains LBA4404 or EHA105 containing the binary vector pLN70. This plasmid carries on its T-DNA the rolC gene from Agrobacterium rhizogenes under control of the CaMV 35S promoter and the nptII selectable marker gene under a NOS promoter. Six independent transformants were produced and grouped according to their phenotypic characteristics. Two transformants showed the same phenotype as the untransformed control plants. Three transformants exhibited a dwarf phenotype and one displayed a super-dwarf phenotype. Southern hybridization analyses of the T-DNA left border region using a nptII probe showed that the six transformants all arose from independent transformation events. Northern hybridization analyses showed that the rolC gene was expressed only in the four transformants that exhibited a dwarf phenotype. Our data show that the phenotypic effects of rolC expression in regal pelargoniums include reductions in plant height, leaf area, petal area, and corolla length. Earlier flowering of the rolC transgenics by up to 22 d was also observed.