Structural Biology

Biography

Biography: Sarwan Dhir

Abstract

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is an annual and typically dioecious crop and is cultivated in many parts of the world for its fiber, oil, seed and in the therapeutic potential for human diseases, phytocannabinoids as a medical therapy are getting more attention recently. The species is also widely utilized as a source of fiber (such as fabrics, ropes, and paper), food, oil, and medicines plus it has a reputation as being used in religious ceremonies and/or for recreational purposes [1]. The development of new hemp cultivars with improved traits such as resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, better nutritional and processing qualities, and with increased yields among others [2,3]. However, before the implementation of this technique in C. sativa species, it is imperative to develop an efficient plant regeneration and transformation protocol that allows the regeneration of transgenic plants. Micro propagation can facilitate high throughput propagation in many species and forms the basis of disease-free plants for certified clean plant programs. Thus, developing an optimized in vitro method for propagating clean plants is a crucial strategy to produce large-scale genetically identical plants, retain genetic integrity and maintain the long-term sustainability of the economically valuable crop [4,5,6]. The purpose of this study was to establish a protocol for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation for foreign gene introduction in Hemp. Several factors influence transformation efficiency including the effect of explant type, age of leaf explants, the concentration of silver nitrate and or calcium chloride, bacteria concentration, infection time, acetosyringone concentration, wounding, and different co-culture periods of bacteria were evaluated to optimize the transformation efficiency for Hemp.