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Engineered Minichromosome Technology in Plants

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Recent Advancements in Gene Expression and Enabling Technologies in Crop Plants

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Abstract

Engineered minichromosomes have been produced in plants using telomere-mediated truncation that cleaves chromosome arms and simultaneously places desired transgenes linked to an endogenous centromere. Proof-of-concept experiments have been successful, illustrating that site-specific recombination can occur at terminal sites on the chromosome and that in vivo modification of minichromosomes is possible as demonstrated by selectable marker removal. Future developments are discussed that would amplify the utility of engineered minichromosomes.

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Acknowledgments

Research on this topic is supported by NSF Plant Genome grant DBI 0701297 and IOS 1339198.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, 65211, Columbia, MO, USA

    James A. Birchler

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  1. James A. Birchler
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Correspondence to James A. Birchler .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Syngenta Biotechnology Inc., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Kasi Azhakanandam

  2. Syngenta Biotechnology, Inc., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA

    Aron Silverstone

  3. Departments of Biochemistry and Pathology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Henry Daniell

  4. Plant and Crop Sciences Division, University of Nottingham School of Biosciences, Loughborough, United Kingdom

    Michael R. Davey

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Birchler, J. (2015). Engineered Minichromosome Technology in Plants. In: Azhakanandam, K., Silverstone, A., Daniell, H., Davey, M. (eds) Recent Advancements in Gene Expression and Enabling Technologies in Crop Plants. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2202-4_13

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