Common bermudagrass,
Cynodon dactylon, is a widely used warm-season turf and forage species in the temperate and tropical regions of the world. Improvement of bermudagrass via biotechnology depends on improved tissue culture responses, especially in plant regeneration, and a successful scheme to introduce useful transgenes. When the concentration of 6-benzylaminopurine was adjusted in the culture medium, yellowish, compact calluses were observed from young inflorescence tissue culture of var.
J1224. Nine long-term, highly regenerable callus lines (including a suspension-cultured line) were subsequently established, of which six were used for biolistic transformation. Five independent transgenic events, with four producing green plants, were obtained following hygromycin B selection from one callus line. Three transgenic events displayed resistance to the herbicide glufosinate, and one of these showed

-glucuronidase activity since the co-transformation vector used in the experiments contained both the
gusA and
bar genes.
Keywords Bermudagrass - Embryogenic - Plant regeneration - Transgenic - Turfgrass
Communicated by P. Ozias-Akins