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Generating Marker-Free Transgenic Wheat Using Minimal Gene Cassette and Cold-Inducible Cre/Lox System

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Abstract

The precise elimination of selectable marker genes is highly desirable, when their function is no longer needed, because their presence raised worldwide public concerns against the release of genetically modified plants. This is the first report of simultaneous application of the minimal gene cassette and cold-inducible Cre/lox recombination system in wheat. The bar selection and cre-recombinase genes were eliminated from T0 and T1 transgenic lines with 44 and 51 % efficiency. This approach provides a new, reasonably effective technique to produce selection gene-free transgenic wheat lines either immediately after tissue culture, or from the subsequent transgenic generation. The advantage of this method is that it does not require any additional cold treatment during the plant regeneration/growing because the transgene elimination is ensured by the vernalisation. Application of this method prevents gene flow by pollen and seed, because the selection and recombinase genes are eliminated before pollen development, therefore reducing the risk of GM plants.

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Acknowledgment

The work was funded by the OTKA project no. 68659.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Agricultural Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Martonvásár, Hungary

    Klára Mészáros, Csaba Éva, Tibor Kiss, Judit Bányai, László Láng & Ildikó Karsai

  2. Department of Plant Physiology and Molecular Plant Biology, Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary

    Csaba Éva, Eszter Kiss, Flóra Téglás & László Tamás

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  1. Klára Mészáros
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  2. Csaba Éva
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  3. Tibor Kiss
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  8. Ildikó Karsai
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  9. László Tamás
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Correspondence to Klára Mészáros.

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Mészáros, K., Éva, C., Kiss, T. et al. Generating Marker-Free Transgenic Wheat Using Minimal Gene Cassette and Cold-Inducible Cre/Lox System. Plant Mol Biol Rep 33, 1221–1231 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-014-0830-1

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