Agrobacterium - Mediated Genetic Transformation in Apple (Malus sp.) - A Review

Genetic engineering in conjunction with traditional methods can provide the means for greater gains and more efficiency in any crop improvement. The recognition of the ability of soil bacterium (Agrobacterium tumefaciens) to transfer a portion of its DNA to plants perhaps is the most important milestone in plant biotechnology. An Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer system is relatively simple and has the potential to generate transgenic cells at a relatively high frequency. There have been considerable successes in development of disease resistant apples such as scab and fire blight resistance, insect resistance, in the modification of rootstock characteristics and in their improvement of fruit characteristics by using genetic transformation. Keeping in view above considerations, the present review article reveals Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation using marker as well as desirable genes in apple (Malus spp.).