Authors: Liao Liao CaiXian Liu GuoGui Ning ManZhu Bao
Publish Date: 2012/03/24
Volume: 30, Issue: 5, Pages: 1196-1203
Abstract
The potential for transgene dispersal through pollen fruit and seed is an important argument against the release of genetically modified plants One approach toward addressing the concerns of gene flow from transgenic crops into closely related wild species involves in the use of tissuespecific promoters to engineer male and/or female sterility In this study we investigated the potential of Barnase ectopic expression for engineering floral sterility A 26 kb promoter region of floral binding protein 6 FBP6 from Petunia hybrida was isolated and fused to a reporter gene encoding βglucuronidase GUS The construct was introduced into tobacco plants where GUS staining was detected ubiquitously throughout the various tissues The expression pattern of FBP6 resembled AG promoters ie weak promoter activity was found in vegetative tissues and strong activity was found in the various floral organs including the carpels and stigma MeanwhileThe pFBP6Barnase construct was then cotransformed into tobacco along with the Barstar gene encoding an enzymatic inhibitor of Barnase which was expressed at low but ubiquitous levels Although cotransformed tobacco plants showed near normal vegetative growth 74 of transgenic plants exhibited stigma and style ablation and 98 of flower buds abscised before opening Further analyses confirmed that stigma and style ablation prevented fertilization of the flower and abscission of the bud followed rapidly Thus this approach has advantages for those ornamental/landscaping species where the pollen and fruit represent pollutants of the urban environment eg platanus and poplar
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