Advances in Studies on Plant Regeneration and Genetic Transformation of Tall Fescue and Other Fescues

Biotechnology has a great application potential in varietal improvement of tall fescue, red fescue and meadow fescue, which are commonly grown as cool-season perennial forage and turf grasses in the temperate region. During the past thirty years, obvious progresses have been made in fields of tissue culture, long-term preservation of embryogenic cultures and genetic transformation of these fescues. Various regeneration systems have been established and successful transformations by several methods have been achieved. However, some problems also exist in tissue culture and transgenic improvement of the three grasses.