Transformation of soybean

1. A method for producing a transgenic soybean plant comprising the steps of:

(a) providing an axillary meristematic tissue of a primary or higher leaf node of a soybean seedling,

(b) co-cultivating said axillary meristematic tissue with a co-cultivation medium comprising an Agrobacterium comprising a transgenic T-DNA, said transgenic T-DNA comprising

(i) at least one plant expression cassette for an agronomically valuable trait, and

(ii) optionally one or more selectable marker genes,

(c) transferring said co-cultivated axillary meristematic tissue on a shoot induction medium comprising

(i) at least one plant growth factor in a concentration suitable to induce de novo shoot induction from said axillary meristematic tissue, and

(ii) optionally one or more selection compounds which in combination with the selectable marker gene of (b) allow for identification, or selection, or identification and selection of a plant cell, tissue or plant comprising said selectable marker gene, and

(iii) optionally one or more antibiotics suitable to inhibit Agrobacterium growth,

and cultivating said co-cultivated axillary meristematic tissue until shoots are induced and developed therefrom and isolating said shoots, and

(d) transferring said isolated shoots to a rooting medium and cultivating said shoots on said rooting medium until said shoots have formed roots, and further regenerating the so derived plantlets into mature plants, which comprise inserted into their genome a T-DNA comprising

(i) said at least one plant expression cassette for an agronomically valuable trait, and

(ii) optionally said at least one selectable marker gene,

wherein the method further comprises wounding said axillary meristematic tissue prior to, during or immediately after co-cultivation of step (b), and wherein at least one of the co-cultivation medium of step (b) and the shoot induction medium of step (c) comprises at least one thiol compound.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises one or more additional steps selected from the group of:

(b1) transferring said co-cultivated axillary meristematic tissue after step (b) to a medium comprising

(i) at least one antibiotic suitable to inhibit Agrobacterium growth, and

(ii) optionally at least one plant growth factor,

wherein said medium is lacking a selection compound which in combination with the selectable marker gene of (b) would allow for identification, or selection, or identification and selection of plant cells, organs or plants comprising said selectable marker gene,

(b2) further incubating said axillary meristematic tissue after step (b) or (b1) on a shoot induction medium (SIM) comprising at least one plant growth factor, wherein said shoot induction medium is lacking a selection compound which in combination with the selectable marker gene of (b) would allow for identification, or selection, or identification and selection of plant cells, organs or plants comprising said selectable marker gene, and

(c1) transferring said shoots after step (c) to a shoot elongation medium comprising

(i) at least one plant growth factor in a concentration suitable to allow shoot elongation, and

(ii) optionally one or more selection compounds which in combination with the selectable marker gene of (b) allow for identification, or selection, or identification and selection of a plant cell, tissue or plant comprising said selectable marker gene,

and cultivating said transferred shoots on said shoot elongation medium until said shoots have elongated to a length of at least about 2 cm.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the axillary meristematic tissue of the primary or higher node is provided in a form selected from the group consisting of:

a) the seedling axillary meristem as provided by substantially the entire seedling,

b) the leaf axillary meristem as provided by dissecting the primary or higher leaves in a way that the axillary meristematic tissue remains attached to the petioles of the leaves, and

c) propagated axillary meristem.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the substantially entire seedling is selected from the group of material consisting of

a) an entire seedling,

b) a seedling having the roots removed,

c) a seedling having one or both cotyledons removed,

d) a seedling having the roots and one or both cotyledons removed, and

e) a seedling having the roots, both cotyledons and part of the epicotyl removed leaving the axillary meristem attached to part of the epicotyl.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the soybean seedling is germinated for about 4 to 10 days prior to explant generation.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the media of at least one of step (b), (b1), (b2), and (c), comprises a cytokinin.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the cytokinin is 6-benzylaminopurine in a concentration which is between about 1 μM and about 10 μM.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the media of at least one of step (b), (b1), (b2), (c) and (c1), comprises between about 0.1 μM and about 2 μM Gibberellic acid (GA3).

9. The method of claim 2 , wherein the media of at least one of step (b) (b1), (b2), and (c) comprises at least one thiol compound.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the thiol compound is L-cysteine in a concentration between about 1 mM and 10 mM, dithiotrietol in a concentration between about 0.1 mM to 5 mM, or sodium thiolsulfate in a concentration between 0.1 mM to 5 mM.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein the media of step (c1), or step (d), or steps (c1) and (d) comprises between about 0.01 mg/l and about 1 μM mg/l indole acetic acid (IAA), or between about 0.1 μM and about 4 μM Gibberellic acid (GA3), or between about 0.5 μM and about 6 μM zeatin riboside acid.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the Agrobacterium is a strain selected from the group consisting of disarmed Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the Agrobacterium strain is a disarmed Agrobacterium rhizogenes K599 strain.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media of at least one of step (b) and (c) comprises a cytokinin.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the cytokinin is 6-benzylaminopurine in a concentration which is between about 1 μM and about 10 μM.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media of at least one of step (b) and (c) comprises between about 0.1 μM and about 2 μM Gibberellic acid (GA3).

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thiol compound is L-cysteine in a concentration between about 1 mM and 10 mM, dithiotrietol in a concentration between about 0.1 mM to 5 mM, or sodium thiolsulfate in a concentration between 0.1 mM to 5 mM.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the media of step (d) comprises between about 0.01 mg/l and about 1 μM mg/l indole acetic acid (IAA), or between about 0.1 μM and about 4 μM Gibberellic acid (GA3), or between about 0.5 μM and about 6 μM zeatin riboside acid.