Genetic Transformation of Soybean Mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Genetic transformation mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens is one of the most important methods in soybean transformation. And transgenic soybean has been obtained in many laboratories by this method, and different Agrobacterium tumefaciens stains and soybean cultivars were used. Because of the low efficiency of this method, further researches are necessary. Many factors, such as Agrobacterium tumefaciens stains, soybean cultivars, the efficiency of T-DNA transfer, tissue culture conditions and selection protocols, can affect the efficiency of the transformation. In this paper, recent advances in soybean transformation mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens were introduced. And some affecting factors to soybean transformation, such as the interactions between soybean cultivars and Agrobacterium tumefaciens stains, regeneration systems in transformation, the chemical inducer, acetosyringone, inducing expression of the vir gene and the thiol-containing compounds decreasing tissue browning of explants and increasing T-DNA delivery were also introduced. In addition, the selectable markers, involving nptⅡ, hpt, bar and mutant aras genes, and marker-free method of co-transformation were discussed. At the same time the emphases were probed into the further researches.