A versatile Agrobacterium-mediated transient gene expression system for herbaceous plants and trees.

ABSTRACT

Plant transient expression is a powerful method used widely for the functional characterization of genes and protein production. In comparison with stable transformation, it has the advantages of being simple, quick, economical, and effective. In the present study, we developed a novel transient gene expression system based on Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. This system is simple and convenient and allows for high transient expression levels. Hyperosmotic pretreatment of plants significantly improved the transient expression in this system. Furthermore, other factors, including acetosyringone concentration, cocultivation time, and Agrobacterium cell density, significantly influenced transient expression efficiency. The results showed that this method is suitable for use with herbaceous plants (such as tobacco and Arabidopsis) and trees (such as birch, poplar, tamarisk, cork, willow, and aralia), suggesting that it may be applied widely in plant transient expression studies.