Transformation Of Higher Plants Research Articles

Positive-negative-selection-mediated gene targeting in rice.

Gene targeting (GT) refers to the designed modification of genomic sequence(s) through homologous recombination (HR). GT is a powerful tool both for the study of gene function and for molecular breeding. However, in transformation of higher plants, non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) occurs overwhelmingly in somatic cells, masking HR-mediated GT. Positive–negative selection (PNS) is an approach for finding HR-mediated GT events because it can eliminate NHEJ effectively by expression of a negative-selection marker gene. In rice—a major crop worldwide—reproducible PNS-mediated GT of endogenous genes has now been successfully achieved. The procedure is based on strong PNS using diphtheria toxin A-fragment as a negative marker, and has succeeded in the directed modification of several endogenous rice genes in various ways. In addition to gene knock-outs and knock-ins, a nucleotide substitution in a target gene was also achieved recently. This review presents a summary of the development of the rice PNS system, highlighting its advantages. Different types of gene modification and gene editing aimed at developing new plant breeding technology based on PNS are discussed.

Role of the VirA histidine autokinase of Agrobacterium tumefaciens in the initial steps of pathogenesis.

Histidine kinases serve as critical environmental sensing modules, and despite their designation as simple two-component modules, their functional roles are remarkably diverse. In Agrobacterium tumefaciens pathogenesis, VirA serves with VirG as the initiating sensor/transcriptional activator for inter-kingdom gene transfer and transformation of higher plants. Through responses to three separate signal inputs, low pH, sugars, and phenols, A. tumefaciens commits to pathogenesis in virtually all flowering plants. However, how these three signals are integrated to regulate the response and why these signals might be diagnostic for susceptible cells across such a broad host-range remains poorly understood. Using a homology model of the VirA linker region, we provide evidence for coordinated long-range transmission of inputs perceived both outside and inside the cell through the creation of targeted VirA truncations. Further, our evidence is consistent with signal inputs weakening associations between VirA domains to position the active site histidine for phosphate transfer. This mechanism requires long-range regulation of inter-domain stability and the transmission of input signals through a common integrating domain for VirA signal transduction.

Tetracycline-Based Binary Ti Vectors pLSU with Efficient Cloning by the Gateway Technology for <i>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</i>-Mediated Transformation of Higher Plants

We constructed small high-yielding binary Ti vectors with a bacterial tetracycline resistance gene to facilitate efficient cloning afforded by the Gateway Technology (Invitrogen) for Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of higher plants. The Gateway Technology vectors are kanamycin-based, thus tetracycline-based destination and expression vectors are easily selected for the antibiotic resistance in the Escherichia coli media. We reduced the size of the tetracycline resistance gene TetC from pBR322 to 1468 bp containing 1191 bp of the coding region, 93 bp of 5’-upstream, and 184 bp 3’-downstream region. The final size of binary Ti vector skeleton pLSU11 is 5034 bp. pLSU12 and 13 have the kanamycin resistance NPTII gene as a plant-selectable marker. pLSU14 and 15 contain the hygromycin resistance HPH gene as a selection marker. pLSU13 and 15 also have the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene in addition to the plant selection marker. We also constructed a mobilizable version of tetracycline-based binary Ti vector pLSU16 in which the mob function of ColE1 replicon was maintained for mobilization of the binary vector from E. coli to A. tumefaciens by tri-parental mating. The final size of binary Ti vector skeleton pLSU16 is 5580 bp. New tetracycline-based binary Ti vectors pLSU12 were found as effective as kanamycin-based vector pLSU2 in promoting a 10-fold increase in fresh weight yield of kanamycin-resistant calli after A. tumefaciens-mediated transformation of tobacco leaf discs. Using the Gateway Technology we introduced the plant-expressible GUSgene to the T-DNA of binary Ti vector pLSU12. Expression of the β-glucuronidase enzyme activity was demonstrated by histochemical staining of the GUS activity in transformed tobacco leaf discs.