Agrobacterium tumefaciens -mediated in planta transformation strategy for development of transgenics in cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) with GFP as a visual marker

Cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.), a mercantile crop plant, is grown worldwide for fiber and seed oil. As with other economically important crops, cotton is bogged down with many biotic and abiotic stress factors. Towards this, genetic engineering offers numerous protocols to engineer plants for better resilience. However, recalcitrance of cotton to plant tissue culture has been the major constraint for successful in vitro regeneration. Hence, alternate methods that evade tissue culture regeneration have been envisaged. Non tissue culture-based in planta transformation strategies are in vogue due to amenability and ease in the generation of transgenic plants. In the present study, we demonstrate the utility of an in planta transformation protocol and establishment of a stringent selection agent-based screening for the identification of transgenics. The genotype independent nature of the protocol was validated in cotton cv. Pusa 8–6 using GFP. Preliminary transformation efficiency of 28% was achieved with a screening efficiency of 20% in the presence of hygromycin. The proof of T-DNA integration by various molecular and expression analysis in T1 and T2 generations proved that this technique can be employed to generate transgenic cotton.