Abstract: Modern sugarcane cultivars are complex hybrids resulting from crosses among several species of the Saccharum genus. Traditional breeding methods have been extensively employed in different countries along the past decades to develop varieties with increased sucrose yield, and resistant to plagues and diseases. Conventional varietal improvement is, however, limited by the narrow pool of suitable markers. In this sense, molecular genetics is seen as a promising tool to assist in the process of molecular marker identification. The present invention concerns the identification of 348 genes associated with sucrose content in sugarcane plants. The genes were found to be differentially expressed when high sucrose and low sucrose plants and populations of plants were compared and/or when high and low sucrose internodes were compared. The expression data was obtained using cDNA microarray and quantitative PCR technologies.

Abstract: The invention relates to a novel method for transforming and rapidly regenerating plant tissue. The method employs target tissues which are the shoot apices thereby expanding the species range for transformation and reducing the risk of somaclonal variation.