Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.)

Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) is the predominant cool-season perennial grass in the United States. It is widely used for both forage and turf purposes. This chapter describes a protocol that allows for the generation of large number of transgenic tall fescue plants by Agrobacterium -mediated transformation. Embryogenic calli induced from caryopsis are used as explants for inoculation with A. tumefaciens . The Agrobacterium strain used is EHA105. Hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (hph ) is used as the selectable marker and hygromycin is used as the selection agent. Calli resistant to hygromycin are obtained after 4–6 wk of selection. Soil-grown tall fescue plants can be regenerated 4–5 mo after Agrobacterium -mediated transformation.