ABSTRACT
Transformation is the genetic alteration of a cell resulting from the uptake and expression of foreign genetic material. The development of improved transformation techniques with the immediate insertion of genes into parental lines of tomato cultivars facilitates the use of transgenes in advanced breeding programmes. The potential in the use of transgenes especially from plants in either sense or antisense origin is also quite high. Genes expressed during reproductive development or disease resistance have been manipulated in tomato plants, but concerns about consumption of genetically modified products still exist. Agrobacterium tumefaciens is more than the causative agent of crown gall disease affecting dicotyledonous plants. It is the most common natural instance for the introduction of foreign gene in plants allowing its genetic manipulation. Direct gene transfer also allows the insertion of foreign DNA into 516cells without the use of transfection vectors with future gene transfer methods targeting specific genes or DNA sequences. Green genetic engineering is still perceived in the first place as a risk. And although scientists have been conducting biological safety research on genetically modified plants for years, the belief that possible consequences for the environment have not been researched is widespread.
