Genetically transformed pepper plants and methods for their production

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention comprises methods for the genetic transformation of pepper plant material and for producing and selecting viable shoots from the material which express an exogenous DNA sequence which has been introduced.
Whole pepper plants expressing the exogenous DNA sequence may be produced by rooting the shoot and subsequently planting the rooted shoot in soil.
The pepper plant material is transformed by incubation with Agrobacterium cells carrying the exogenous DNA sequence which typically includes a selectable plant marker gene as well as one or more genes to be expressed.
Shoots are regenerated from the pepper plant material and selected, typically by growth on a selection/induction medium which inhibits growth in the absence of the marker.
The invention further comprises an improved method of regenerating pepper (without transformation).
In a first preferred aspect of the present invention, the transformed regenerated shoot is obtained from non-callus plant material.
That is, the pepper plant material is transformed and regenerated under conditions which produce transformed shoots which do not pass through a callus stage of development.
The avoidance of the callus stage is advantageous because it decreases the time needed to obtain a transformed plant.
Moreover, it increases the efficiency of transformation, and it reduces the risk of undesired somaclonal variation due to mutations accumulating in the callus due to extended culture times.
In a second preferred aspect of the present invention, the pepper plant material is derived from cotyledons, preferably young expanded cotyledons or young embryonic cotyledons.
Another preferred aspect of the present invention is the use of a plant selectable marker selected from the group consisting of the aadA gene which encodes spectinomycin resistance, the SPT gene which encodes streptomycin resistance, the NPTII gene which encodes kanamycin resistance, the HPT gene which encodes hygromycin resistance, and the ALS gene which encodes chlorsulfuron resistance