Gossypium hirsutum cv. Sphinx is a commercially grown Texas cotton cultivar. A method to rapidly and efficiently transform cotton cultivars without modification of the genotype has been established in this laboratory. However, it is desirable to increase transformation efficiency. This report examines the effects of the additional virulent genes, virG, virG/virE, virE, and virGN54D on transient expression of the cotton shoot tip on selection medium with and without sonication at 60 watts, 47 KHz for 15 sec. The shoot establishment for 5 days between cocultivation and selection increased shoot tip survival from 8% to 18% on selection medium. pCH42 (virE) resulted in lower rates of survival, 13% and 17% without and with sonication treatment. The pCH32 (virG/virE) resulted in higher rates of survival, 23% and 27% without and with sonication treatment. The pCH30 (virG) and supervirulent plasmid, pAD1289 showed 18% survival without sonication, and 23% and 27% survival with sonication treatment. To investigate the effect of vir genes on stable T-DNA integration, primary plants will be tested.