BackgroundThe cultivar Micro-Tom (MT) is regarded as a model system for tomato genetics due to its short life cycle and miniature size. However, efforts to improve tomato genetic transformation have led to protocols dependent on the costly hormone zeatin, combined with an excessive number of steps.ResultsHere we report the development of a MT near-isogenic genotype harboring the allele Rg1 (MT-Rg1), which greatly improves tomato in vitro regeneration. Regeneration was further improved in MT by including a two-day incubation of cotyledonary explants onto medium containing 0.4 μM 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) before cytokinin treatment. Both strategies allowed the use of 5 μM 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP), a cytokinin 100 times less expensive than zeatin. The use of MT-Rg1 and NAA pre-incubation, followed by BAP regeneration, resulted in high transformation frequencies (near 40%), in a shorter protocol with fewer steps, spanning approximately 40 days from Agrobacterium infection to transgenic plant acclimatization.ConclusionsThe genetic resource and the protocol presented here represent invaluable tools for routine gene expression manipulation and high throughput functional genomics by insertional mutagenesis in tomato.

Chemical reactions (hydrolysis, oxidation, reduction, methylation, alkyl compounds detachment) were applied to modify the structure of humic substances (HS) isolated from vermicompost. Structural and conformational changes of these humic derivatives were assessed by elemental analyses, size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance ((13)C CPMAS-NMR), and diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY-NMR), whereas their bioactivity was evaluated by changes in root architecture and proton pump activation of tomato and maize. All humic derivatives exhibited a large bioactivity compared to original HS, both KMnO(4)-oxidized and methylated materials being the most effective. Whereas no general relationship was found between bioactivity and humic molecular sizes, the hydrophobicity index was significantly related with proton pump stimulation. It is suggested that the hydrophobic domain can preserve bioactive molecules such as auxins in the humic matter. In contact with root-exuded organic acids the hydrophobic weak forces could be disrupted, releasing bioactive compounds from humic aggregates. These findings were further supported by the fact that HS and all derivatives used in this study activated the auxin synthetic reporter DR5::GUS.

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