ORIGINAL PAPER Tissue culture independent transformation for Corchorus olitorius Abu Ashfaqur Sajib Md. Shahidul Islam Md. Shamim Reza Arpita Bhowmik Layla Fatema Haseena Khan Received: 27 May 2008 / Accepted: 15 August 2008 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2008 Abstract In vitro regeneration is difficult for spe- cies of Corchorus and several transformation attempts based on tissue culture have failed. We describe a successful transformation protocol for C. olitorius using a technique independent of tissue culture. Primary growth of a plant is brought about from the activities of meristematic region and subsequent division and differentiation of the deriv- ative cells into the tissues and organs of the plant. The principal behind the current study was that if some dividing cells in the meristematic region become transformed by Agrobacterium and the cells retain the capacity for cell division, then the trans- gene(s) will be transferred to progeny cells, and if some of these cells later differentiate to form floral buds, seeds generated from these buds will inherit the transgene(s) to next generation. In this study young jute plants were transformed at shoot apical meriste- matic region using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Heritable transmission of the transgene to progeny from genetically modified plants was confirmed by gus gene expression by histochemical analysis, selection on kanamycin containing medium, RT- PCR, PCR amplification and Southern hybridization. Efficiency of transformation was determined by selection on medium containing kanamycin, and inheritance of transgene to T 2 generation plants. Keywords Jute  Transformation  Agrobacterium tumefaciens  In planta Introduction Jute is a versatile and environment-friendly natural fibre that generates diversified value-added products. It falls into the bast fibre category along with kenaf, industrial hemp, ramie and banana fibres. Though there are over 100 species of Corchorus, only two, Corchorus capsularis L. and C. olitorius L., are cultivated widely (Sarker and Al-Amin 2007). These species of jute are self-pollinating and contain very limited genetic variability with respect to (i) adapt- ability to different agronomic environments, (ii) fibre quality, (iii) fibre yield, and (iv) susceptibility to diseases and pests (Basu et al. 2004). For example, Abu Ashfaqur Sajib and Md. Shahidul Islam contributed equally to the study. A. A. Sajib Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh Md. Shahidul Islam  Md. Shamim Reza  A. Bhowmik  L. Fatema  H. Khan (&) Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh e-mail: pmblab@gmail.com Md. Shahidul Islam Bangladesh Jute Research Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh 123 Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult DOI 10.1007/s11240-008-9447-0