Ex vitro Production of Transgenic Composite Plants in Glycyrrhiza glabra via Agrobacterium rhizogenes-mediated Transformation as a New Method

Licorice, Glycyrrhiza glabra (belong to Leguminosae family) is one of the most popular medicinal plants in the world and it is widely used in many fields such as medical, pharmaceutical, confectionery and health industries. Different parts of licorice (shoots, leaves and roots) were had various components such as Glycyrrhzin that was used for some proposes.
The current study was done with the aim of gene transfer via Agrobacterium rhizogenes by ex vitro method for hairy root production in licorice.
The experiment was laid out as a completely randomized design (CRD) with five treatments in three replications. At first, root of young plantlets was eliminated and excited plantlets were putted in the glass wool contain suspension of bacteria. After 10 to 14 days of inoculation with Agrobacterium rhizogenes, the roots were appeared. The percentage of root induction by four strains of Agrobacterium (ATCC 15834, GMI 9534, A4 and A13) with check (without bacteria) was investigated.
The results of PCR analysis with specific primers for roots of composite plants (putative transgenic) was shown that three strains of bacteria (A4, A13 and GMI 9534) and strain ATCC 15834, were produced 100% and 66.66% transgenic roots respectively.
Thus, production of composite licorice plants was remarked due to it has low cost, fast and simple.