A highly efficient transformation protocol for Micro-Tom, a model cultivar for tomato functional genomics
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Tomato Root Transformation Followed by Inoculation with Ralstonia Solanacearum for Straightforward Genetic Analysis of Bacterial Wilt Disease
Published on: March 11, 2020
Hyeon-Jin Sun1, Sayaka Uchii, Shin Watanabe
1Gene Research Center, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
Abstract:
We report a highly efficient protocol for the Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation of a miniature dwarf tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), Micro-Tom, a model cultivar for tomato functional genomics. Cotyledon explants of tomato inoculated with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (Rhizobium radiobacter) C58C1Rif(R) harboring the binary vector pIG121Hm generated a mass of chimeric non-transgenic and transgenic adventitious buds. Repeated shoot elongation from the mass of adventitious buds on selection media resulted in the production of multiple transgenic plants that originated from independent transformation events. The transformation efficiency exceeded 40% of the explants. This protocol could become a powerful tool for functional genomics in tomato.

