To study the influence of genetic background on the transformation and regeneration of cultivated tomato plants, hairy root lines of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) were obtained by inoculating the hypocotyl explants of three tomato cultivars with the Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain DCAR-2, which harbors the pBI-121 binary vector. The Ri-T-DNA transformation into the plant DNA was confirmed by both of mikimopine and GUS assay analyses. The regeneration efficiency from hairy root explants was assessed. The data indicated that white embryonic calli were formed within two weeks in the presence of 2 mgl(-1) 2, 4-D plus 0.25 mgl(-1) kinetin. Adventitious shoots emerged from the embryonic callus in the presence of 1 mgl(-1) GA3 along with 0.5 mgl(-1) NAA. The regeneration frequency was higher in the cultivar UC-97, followed by Momotaro and then Edkawi. Molecular confirmation of the integration of the GUS gene into the hairy root-derived plants genomes was done via PCR using GUS-specific primers and also using Southern blotting analysis. Our data shows that regeneration is possible from hairy roots of the cultivated tomato and this system could be used to produce transgenic tomato plants expressing the genes present in Agrobacterium rhizogenes binary vectors.