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An efficient biolistic transformation system of banana combined with a liquid medium selection system was developed during this study. An embryogenic cell suspension (ECS) of Musa acuminata cv. Baxi (AAA) was bombarded with a particle delivery system. After 7 days of restoring culture in liquid M2 medium, embryogenic cells were transferred to a liquid selection M2 medium supplemented with 10 μg/mL hygromycin for resistance screening. The untransformed cell clusters were inhibited or killed, and a small number of transformants proliferated in the liquid selection medium. After the 0th, first, second, and third generation of antibiotic screening, there were 0, 65, 212, and 320, respectively, vitality-resistant buds obtained from a 0.5-mL packed cell volume (PCV) of embryogenic cell suspension. The β-glucuronidase (GUS) staining, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis, and Southern blot hybridization results all demonstrated a 100% positive rate of regenerated resistant seedlings. Interestingly, the number of buds obtained through third-generation screening was almost equal to that obtained from the original ECS in M2 medium without antibiotics. These results suggested that the liquid medium selection system facilitated the proliferation of a positive transgenic ECS, which significantly improved the regeneration rate of transformants. This protocol is suitable for the genetic transformation of all banana genotypes and is highly advantageous to varieties with low callusing potential.
Scion wood of ‘Caddo’ and ‘Desirable’ pecan (Carya illinoinensis) was grafted onto the epicotyl of 1-month-old, open-pollinated ‘Shaoxing’ pecan seedlings for evaluation as a grafting technique to reduce the time to produce grafted trees. The results showed that seedlings grafted with “base scions” had higher survival than those grafted with “terminal scions” for both ‘Caddo’ and ‘Desirable’. Also, grafting with paraffinic tape could achieve greater success rate than that with medical tape. The most ideal time to perform this grafting was late April in Nanjing, China, when pecan seedlings were about 35 days old. This study demonstrated that the technique yielded successful epicotyl grafting of >70%, and it could thus be applied in practice.