Abstract

TORRES AMARO, Jhonathan; SANGRONIS HERRERA, Jesús  and  HERNANDEZ, Alexander. Response of transgenic lines of Ficus lyrata Warb. carrying P_SAG12:: ipt chimeric gene under different growing environments. Bioagro [online]. 2012, vol.24, n.1, pp.57-60. ISSN 1316-3361.

Ficus lyrata is an important ornamental species as interior plant and for landscaping. In the present work there was evaluated the behavior of four transgenic lines (tg) harboring the P_SAG12:ipt gene and the wild type, without transforming (wt), exposed to different culture environments: 1) 78 µmol· m^-2·s^-1 and 30 ºC; 2) 42 µmol· m^-2·s^-1  and 27 ºC; 3) 36 µmol· m^-2·s^-1 and 32 ºC; 4) 18 µmol· m^-2·s^-1 and 27 ºC. Vitroplants in pots with substrate were cultivated in a shadehouse for 270 days before submitting them to the treatments. The transgenic lines had lower relative chlorophyll content than the control, but they were taller with higher leaf number. Among the transgenic lines, the tg19 was higher, with larger leaves, and fewer number of them, while the tg25 showed as a low growing plant with many small leaves. In general terms, the effect of the expression of the quimeric gene was similar in the four environments and promoted the increase of plant height and number of leaves, and reduction of chlorophyll content. Based on plant height, leaves number and coloration of the foliage, the environment 3 can be considered to be most suitable for the culture of this species for ornamental purposes.

Keywords : Biotechnology; growth and development; irradiance; transgenic plants.