Results and Discussion The  integration  and  expression  of  marker  genes  gus  and  nptII  in  transgenic  potato  were demonstrated by activities of marker enzymes GUS and NPTII (Table 1). Table    1.          Activities  of  GUS  and  NPTII  in  nontransformed  (control)  and  transgenic  potato  cv. Borodyanski Variant                          GUS                                                     NPTII                     (imp/s/mg-equiv.of enzyme)         (chlorophyll content, mg/ml of acetone                                                                                                             extract) Nontransformed     0.13±0.04                                               103.85±4.65 Transgenic             0.43±0.01                                               267.05±14.35 The  influence  of  vector  A.  tumefaciens  EHA105  was  estimated  in  model  experiments  in which tubers infected with A. tumefaciens EHA105 were placed in a keramzit hydroponic bath and grown  for  3  months.    The  prolonged  life  of  transgenic  potato  with  the  gene  ugt  was  noted,  in comparison  to  potato  transformed  with  A.t.  EHA1005,  but  the  most  dramatic  differences  were  in sizes of developed leaves from both types of plants (Table 2). Table 2. The comparison of leaves of potato transformed with vector A. tumefaciens EHA105 and transgenic potato with the ugt  transgene grown in a keramzit bath       Variant                                       Mass of 1 leaf (g)             Mean leaf area („ƒm2) Transformed with A.t.EHA105           3,93±1,01                             163,16±26,32 Transgenic with the gene ugt          12,76±1,38                            465,26±26,88 From the data presented in Table 2, it was clear that the mass and leaf area were  3.2 and 2.9 times larger, respectively,  in transgenic potato with ugt than in transformed with “blank” vectorA.t.  EHA105. The increase of growth of plants transformed with the gene ugt was observed according to morphometric analyses (Table 3).    Table 3.      Morphometric analyses of potato plants at the age of buds formation growing in field beds Variant                        Height             Stems          Mean leaf  area     Leaves  number                                           („ƒ m)              number                 („ƒm2)                     per plant                 Nontransformed       36.9±6.5          2.5±0.8           277.7±81.1              21.0±5.3          Transgenic               44.7±5.8          2.8±0.6           348.4±32.6              29.2±6.6                  The  activity  of  target  enzyme  UDPG-transferase,  free  and  alkali-labile  IAA  contents  are shown in Table 4. Table  4.    Activity  of  UDPG-transferase,  free  and  alkali-labile  IAA  contents  in  potato  plants  cv. Borodyanski Variant                     UDPG-transferase                  Free IAA           Alkali-labile IAA a                                    (nmol /mg of protein/h)          (pmol/g.f.w.)        ( pmol/ g.f.w. )    Nontransformed                  259.6                             5.1±0.6                    0.0                                 Transgenic                        1670.2                             8.2±3.1                22.8±0.0    a     IAA was liberated upon 1N NaOH hydrolysis during 1 h at room temperature.

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