Non-antibiotic selection systems for soybean somatic embryos: the lysine analog aminoethyl-cysteine as a selection agent.

Background: In soybean somatic embryo transformation, the standard selection agent currently used is hygromycin. It may be preferable to avoid use of antibiotic resistance genes in foods. The objective of these experiments was to develop a selection system for producing transgenic soybean somatic embryos without the use of antibiotics such as hygromycin.