Establishment of transgenic marigold using the floral dip method

The floral dip transformation method avoids tissue culture and regeneration processes of marigold, and the green fluorescent protein (GFP) is widely used in the detection of genetically modified organisms. In our study, the binary vector PCB260 containing the screening gene basta, the reporter gene GFP, and a 4 × 35S enhancer was transferred into marigold (Tagetes erecta) via Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105-mediated transformation using the floral dip method. After herbicide-resistance screening and genomic PCR testing, four transgenic lines were obtained in T₀ generation. In the T₁ generation, 15 transgenic plants showed fluorescence and were GFP-positive with phenotypic changes. The segregation ratio of mutant to normal plants was 1:3. Plant height, leaf length and width were significantly greater in the normal plants than in the mutant plants. Mutant plants did not bloom.