Abstract: When tea explants were pre-cultured on medium containing PVP 16g/L for 2-3d before infiltrated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens the transformation frequency was increased. Optimum conditions for preparing bombardment micro-particle were as follows: 10βµl tungsten suspension (60βmg/1ml), 1.6βµl plasmid DNA (1βµg/βµl), 4βµl spermidin (0.1βmol/L) and 15βµl CaCl2 (l2.5βmol/L). Ethanol was used to dilute the final volume up to 48βµl. The loading volume for each bombardment was 8-10βµl. The survival rate of resistant calli was 5.0%-12.1%, when the bombarded explants were cultured on selection media with kanamycin or hygromycin.

Key words: Tea science, Tea plant, Transformation, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Particle bombardment