Çukurova Tarım Gıda Bil. Der. Çukurova J. Agric. Food Sci. 31(2): 1-8, 2016 Yayın kuruluna geliş tarihi: 05.08.2016 1 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ege, 35100, Bornova, İzmir, Turkey 2 Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Çukurova, 01330, Balcalı, Adana, Turkey *ymendi@gmail.com Transformation of NHX-1 Gene into Some Melon Varieties Tolga İZGÜ (1) Başar SEVİNDİK (2) Özhan ŞİMŞEK (2) Yeşim YALÇIN MENDİ (2)* Abstract In the present study, an efficient method for shoot regeneration and transformation by Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains in two different melon cultivars (Cucumis melo var. inodorus cv. ‘Kirkagac 637’ and Cucumis melo L., cv. Védrantais) have been developed. A. tumefaciens AGL1 race provide pUBINHX1 plasmid, resistant to salinity. Expression of AtNHX1 (Na-H antiporter) gene driven by CaMV 35S control in pUBINHX1 plasmid. In the structure of the plasmid hygromisin phospotransferase gene located as plant selection marker gene in T DNA region. The best regeneration result was obtained from MS medium supplemented with 2.2 μM BAP and 0.5 μM NAA. DNA isolation, PCR and gel electrophoresis were done from putative transgenic plants, 200 bp band size was obtain. Regeneration of putative transgenic plants obtained from proximal and cotyledon explants showed differences in both cultivars. Key Words: Cucumis melo, Transformation, Salinity, Gene transfer, PCR Bazı Kavun Çeşitlerine NHX-1 Geninin Transformasyonu Özet Bu çalışmada, iki kavun çeşidinde (Cucumis melo var. inodorus cv. ‘Kirkagac 637’ ve Cucumis melo L. cv. Védrantais) Agrobacterium tumefaciens suşu kullanılarak sürgün rejenerasyonu ve transformasyonu için en uygun metod geliştirilmiştir. A. tumefaciens AGL1 ırkındaki pUBINHX1 plazmidinde tuzluluğa dayanıklılık geni bulunmaktadır. pUBINHX1 plazmidi içerisinde bulunan AtNHX1 (Na-H antiporter) geni, CaMV 35S promotoru kontolü altında ifade olmaktadır. T-DNA bölgesinde lokalize olan hygromisin phospotransferase geni bitki seleksiyon marker geni olarak görev almaktadır. En iyi rejenerasyon sonucu, 2.2 μM BAP ve 0.5 μM NAA içeren MS ortamından sağlanmıştır. Putatif transgenik bitkilerde, DNA izolasyonu, PCR ve jel elektroforez çalışmaları yapılmış, 200 bç bant büyüklüğü saptanmıştır. Proksimal ve kotiledon eksplantlarından elde edilmiş putative transgenik bitkilerin rejenerasyonu, her iki çeşit içerisinde farklılıklar göstermiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Cucumis melo, Transformasyon, Tuzluluk, Gen transferi, PCR Introduction Melon belongs to Cucurbitaceae family and known to be one of the most important horticultural crop. Varieties of Cucumis melo species spread large area in Asia, especially Korea, China and Japan (Zhang et al. 2014). Melon originates from China and secondary diversification center is Turkey (Pitrat et al. 2000) Turkey is one of the most important country in the world for melon production as 1.7 million tonnes annually according to 2013 statistics after China (FAO, 2014). There are some reports on genetic transformation in different melon varieties for disease resistance, biotic and abiotic stress resistance (Mendi et al. 2012). Recently, biotechnology has wide usage among plant breeding techniques and one of the most important technique is genetic transformation. It presents improvement of new plant varieties and new prospects for conventional melon breeding (Mendi et al.