Carnations - Patent granted to Florigene Europe B.V.

A method for genetically transforming carnation plant material, said method comprising:

A) co-cultivating carnation plant material with Agrobacterium tumefaciens or rhizogenes cells carrying an exogenous DNA sequence;
B) initiating callus formation in the plant material; and
C) selecting transformed plant cells.

A method for producing genetically altered carnation plants, said method comprising:

A) co-cultivation of carnation plant material with Agrobacterium tumefaciens or rhizogenes cells carrying an exogenous DNA sequence including a selectable marker gene in a co-cultivation medium containing nutrients, an energy source, and an induction compound under conditions which allow the Agrobacterium cells to infect the plant material and transfer the exogenous DNA to the carnation chromosomes, wherein the carnation plant material is leaf obtained from shoots grown in culture;
B) culturing plant material from step (A) in a callus initiation medium containing nutrients, an energy source, an auxin, a cytokinin, an anti-Agrobacterium antibiotic, and a plant selection agent which inhibits callus and shoot formation from plant material which does not express the selectable marker gene to produce transformed callus material; and
C) culturing transformed callus material in a regeneration medium containing nutrients, an energy source, an auxin, a cytokinin, an anti-Agrobacterium antibiotic, and the plant selection agent, present in amounts effective to produce transformed shoots.

Claim 22

A method for micropropagating shoots from transformed carnation plant material, said method comprising:

A) culturing transformed carnation plant material obtained from callus to produce a plurality of vitrified shoots; and
B) placing vitrified shoots from step (A) in a medium containing nutrients and an energy source but being substantially free from growth regulators for a period of at least about one month, whereby new shoots are produced which are free from vitrification.

Carnation callus material derived from an explant material which has been transformed with an exogenous DNA sequence, wherein said DNA sequence comprises a functional gene capable of imparting a phenotype not possessed by the explant material and wherein said DNA sequence has been integrated into the carnation genome.

A carnation plant having cells derived from an explant material which have been transformed with an exogenous DNA sequence, wherein said DNA sequence comprises a functional gene capable of imparting a phenotype not possessed by the explant material and wherein said DNA sequence has been integrated into the carnation genome.

A carnation plant having cells derived from an explant material which have been transformed with an exogenous DNA sequence so that flowers of the plant display a phenotype characterized by controlled senescence resulting in prolonged vase life relative to the vase life of flowers from plants propagated from non-transformed cells of the explant material.

A transgenic carnation plant derived from an explant material comprising an exogenous DNA sequence so that flowers of the plant display a phenotype charac terized by controlled senescence resulting in prolonged vase life relative to the vase life of flowers from plants propagated from non-transformed cells of the explant material.

A carnation plant having cells derived from an explant material which have been transformed with an exogenous DNA sequence to display a phenotype characterized by resistance to a herbicide.

A transgenic carnation plant derived from an explant material comprising an exogenous DNA sequence to display a phenotype characterized by resistance to a herbicide.

A carnation plant having cells derived from an explant material which have been transformed with an exogenous DNA sequence so that flowers of the plant display a phenotype characterized by a color conferred by said exogenous DNA sequence which color is modified relative to a flower color of the explant material.

A transgenic carnation plant derived from an explant material comprising an exogenous DNA sequence so that flowers of the plant display a phenotype characterized by a modified color conferred by said exogenous DNA sequence which color is modified relative to a flower color of the explant material.

A carnation plant derived from an explant material having cells which have been transformed with an exogenous DNA sequence to display a phenotype characterized by enhanced resistance to disease relative to the disease resistance of plants propagated from non-transformed cells of the explant material.

A transgenic carnation plant derived from an explant material comprising an exogenous DNA sequence to display a phenotype characterized by enhanced resistance to disease relative to the disease resistance of plants propagated from non-transformed cells of the explant material.

A carnation plant having cells which have been transformed with the ACC synthase gene.

A carnation plant having cells which have been transformed with a chlorsulfuron resistance gene.