Direct DNA Uptake by Mature Zygotic Embryos -

When dry embryos of wheat, barley, rye, pea and bean, isolated by grinding the seeds in carbon tetrachloride or cyclohexane, are imbibed in a DNA solution they take up the DNA and show the expression of marker gene. Dry seeds, whose seed coats have been removed by grinding, also take up DNA when imbibed in a DNA solution.

The imbibed seeds/embryos are germinated on appropriate selective media to isolate the transformed embryos. It is thought that the DNA is taken up by embryos through the cells injured during their isolation (removal of the seed coat); the DNA then moves through the plasmodesmata to other cells of the embryos.