Transgenic Hypericum perforatum.

Plant transformation is an important tool with many applications in modern plant biology. Although this technique is primarily used to produce superior crop varieties, it is also being utilized to answer basic questions concerning gene function and regulation in contemporary functional genomics research. In our laboratory, we have established a transformation system for Hypericum perforatum. This protocol involves the transfer of foreign DNA into H. perforatum organogenic nodule explants via particle-bombardment and the regeneration of shoots from the explants under selection pressure. We have successfully used this method to express ss-glucuronidase and hygromycin phosphotransferase genes in H. perforatum. Molecular analyses of putative phenotypically normal transgenic plants show stable integration of the transgenes into the plant nuclear genome. Here we describe the procedure for the transformation of H. perforatum.