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Application of Arabidopsis AGAMOUS second intron for the engineered ablation of flower development in transgenic tobacco

  • Genetic Transformation and Hybridization
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Abstract

To explore a new approach to generating reproductive sterility in transgenic plants, the barnase gene from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens was placed under the control of an 1853-bp nucleotide sequence from the 3′end of the second intron of Arabidopsis AGAMOUS and CaMV 35S (−60) minimal promoter [AG-I-35S (−60)::Barnase], and was introduced into tobacco through transformation mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. All AG-I-35S (−60)::Barnase transgenic plants showed normal vegetative growth and 28% of the transgenic lines displayed complete ablation of flowering. Two transgenic lines, Bar-5 and Bar-15, were 98.1 and 98.4% sterile, respectively, as determined by seed production and germination. When controlled by AG-I-35S (−60) chimeric promoter, barnase mRNA was detected in the reproductive tissues of transgenic tobacco plants, but not in vegetative parts. This study presents the first application of an AG intron sequence in the engineered ablation of sexual reproduction in plants. The AG-I-35S (−60)::Barnase construct can be useful in diminishing pollen and seed formation in plants, providing a novel bisexual sterility strategy for interception of transgene escape and has other potentially commercial use for transgenic engineering.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Zhijiang Scientific and Technological Program (2004C32002) and the Hangzhou Scientific and Technological Program (200433248). We thank Drs. Rich Hunt (Canadian Forest Service) and Yu Xiang (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) for their critical reading and comments on the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 310018, China

    Hui-Zhong Wang, Bin Hu, Guan-Ping Chen, Nong-Nong Shi & Qi-Cai Yin

  2. College of Food, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou, 310035, China

    Yan Zhao

  3. Pacific Forestry Centre, Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, V8Z 1M5, Victoria, Canada

    Jun-Jun Liu

Authors
  1. Hui-Zhong Wang
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  2. Bin Hu
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  3. Guan-Ping Chen
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  4. Nong-Nong Shi
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  5. Yan Zhao
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  6. Qi-Cai Yin
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  7. Jun-Jun Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hui-Zhong Wang or Jun-Jun Liu.

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Communicated by P. Lakshmanan.

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Wang, HZ., Hu, B., Chen, GP. et al. Application of Arabidopsis AGAMOUS second intron for the engineered ablation of flower development in transgenic tobacco. Plant Cell Rep 27, 251–259 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-007-0450-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-007-0450-4

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