Methods for identifying transgenic plants using morphological markers

A method of determining the successful transformation of an Arabidopsis plant with a heterologous polynucleotide, comprising:

• transforming an Arabidopsis plant with a DNA construct comprising at least one heterologous polynucleotide operatively associated with a promoter capable of regulating transcription in a plant and a wild-type GL1 encoding polynucleotide expressed from a 35S promoter, wherein the plant is homozygous for a mutation of the GL1 gene;
• collecting seeds from the plant and growing the seeds into progeny plants;
• and
• detecting the presence or absence of trichomes on the progeny plants, wherein the presence of trichomes indicates the successful transformation of the progeny plants with the heterologous polynucleotide.

A method of determining the successful transformation of an Arabidopsis plant with a heterologous polynucleotide, comprising:

• transforming an Arabidopsis plan with a DNA construct comprising at least one heterologous polynucleotide operatively associated with a promoter capable of regulating transcription in a plant and a wild-type GL1 encoding polynucleotide expressed from a minimal promoter, wherein the plant is homozygous for a mutation of the GL1 gene;
• collecting seeds from the plant and growing the seeds into progeny plants;
• and
• detecting the presence or absence of trichomes on the progeny plants, wherein the presence of trichomes indicates he successful transformation of the progeny plants with the heterologous polynucleotide.