Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of 'Kirkagac 637' a recalcitrant melon (Cucumis melo L.) cultivar with ZYMV coat protein encoding gene

A gene encoding for zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) coat protein was transformed into 'Kirkagac 637', an important Turkish melon cultivar using Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and putatively resistant transgenic lines were obtained. Proximal cotyledonary explants were incubated with Agrobacterium carrying the binary plasmid PGA643 including the nptii and zymv coat protein genes under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter. ELISA tests and PCR analyses were performed to determine which plants were transformants. Transformation efficiency was 1,6 %. Four transformants were self pollinated to obtain R 1 generation. The plants from the R2 generation were tested by PCR to demonstrate the integration of the zymv coat protein gene (1000 bp) in to the 'Kirkagac 637' genome. Segregation of 4 transformants was tested by X2 analysis and the results were consistent with predicted Mendelian ratios. In each case the P values were much greater than the rejection level of P=0.05