Agrobacterium and PEG-mediated transformation of the phytopathogen Venturia inaequalis

We report the development of two new transformation systems, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-mediated transformation of protoplasts and Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of mycelium, for the filamentous ascomycete Venturia inaequalis. New binary vectors have been created for the latter. Although transformation was initially achieved using a PEG-mediated method, this was superseded by the A. tumefaciens-mediated approach. The advantages of the latter include: ease of the protocol, no requirement for protoplasts; higher transformation efficiency; and single-site integration. A comparison between the two transformation methods is presented.