Highly efficient Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and plant regeneration system for genome engineering in tomato

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is an important vegetable and nutritious crop plant worldwide. They are rich sources of several indispensable compounds such as lycopene, minerals, vitamins, carotenoids, essential amino acids, and bioactive polyphenols. Plant regeneration and Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation system from different explants in various genotypes of tomato are necessary for genetic improvement. Among diverse plant growth regulator (PGR) combinations and concentrations tested, Zeatin (ZEA) at 2.0 mg l^-1 in combination with 0.1 mg l^-1 indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) generated the most shoots/explant from the cotyledon of Arka Vikas (36.48 shoots/explant) and PED (24.68 shoots/explant), respectively. The hypocotyl explant produced 28.76 shoots/explant in Arka Vikas and 19.44 shoots/explant in PED. In contrast, leaf explant induced 23.54 shoots/explant in Arka Vikas and 17.64 shoots/explant in PED. The obtained multiple shoot buds from three explant types were elongated on a medium fortified with Gibberellic acid (GA₃) (1.0 mg l^-1), IAA (0.5 mg l^-1), and ZEA (0.5 mg l^-1) in both the cultivars. The rooting was observed on a medium amended with 0.5 mg l^-1 indole 3-butyric acid (IBA). The transformation efficiency was significantly improved by optimizing the pre-culture of explants, co-cultivation duration, bacterial density and infection time, and acetosyringone concentration. The presence of transgenes in the plant genome was validated using different methods like histochemical GUS assay, Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), and Southern blotting. The transformation efficiency was 42.8% in PED and 64.6% in Arka Vikas. A highly repeatable plant regeneration protocol was established by manipulating various plant growth regulators (PGRs) in two tomato cultivars (Arka Vikas and PED). The Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method was optimized using different explants like cotyledon, hypocotyl, and leaf of two tomato genotypes. The present study could be favourable to transferring desirable traits and precise genome editing techniques to develop superior tomato genotypes.