Work

Stable transformation of plastids in higher plants.

Year: 1990

Type: article

Abstract: Stable genetic transformation of the plastid genome is reported in a higher plant, Nicotiana tabacum. Plastid transformation was obtained after bombardment of leaves with tungsten particles coated with pZS148 plasmid DNA. Plasmid pZS148 (9.6 kilobases) contains a 3.7-kilobase plastid DNA fragment encoding the 16S rRNA. In the 16S rRNA-encoding DNA (rDNA) a spectinomycin resistance mutation is flanked on the 5' side by a streptomycin resistance mutation and on the 3' side by a Pst I site generated by ligating an oligonucleotide in the intergenic region. Transgenic lines were selected by spectinomycin resistance and distinguished from spontaneous mutants by the flanking, cotransformed streptomycin resistance and Pst I markers. Regenerated plants are homoplasmic for the spectinomycin resistance and the Pst I markers and heteroplasmic for the unselected streptomycin resistance trait. Transgenic plastid traits are transmitted to the seed progeny. The transgenic plastid genomes are products of a multistep process, involving DNA recombination, copy correction, and sorting out of plastid DNA copies.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.87.21.8526

Authors: Z Svab, P Hajdukiewicz, P Maliga

Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Language: English

Topic: Transgenic Plants and Applications

Subfield: Biotechnology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funder: National Science Foundation

Award: New Genetic system for the study of the plasid genome