Regeneration and genetic transformation in the Vitis genus.

This work is a contribution to the development of regeneration systems and genetic transformation in the Vitis genus and opens interesting perspectives to the application of molecular techniques for study interesting traits, as well as for genetic improvement of grape.Somatic embryogenesis from leaf and petioles has been obtained in V.rupestris S. and the most crucial steps of this morphogenic event have been characterized through a two-dimensional electrophoretic analysis of the total proteins and a study of isozyme patterns of five enzymes.In this genotype, the co-culture of isolated somatic embryos during' secondary embryogenesis induction with Agrobacterium tumefaciens (LBA4404), which contains the plasmid pBI121 carrying the neomycin-phosphotranspherase and the β-glucuronidase genes, proved to be a valuable strategy for the production of stably transgenic plants.The regeneration potential in the Vitis genus during direct organogenesis from young leaves was conducted on 18 different Vitis genotypes, including cultivars of Vitis vinifera L., wild species, rootstocks and a hybrid variety was investigated, opens the possibility to employ in vitro strategies for molecular studies and genetic improvement to valuable grape genotypes too