Summary
A two component maize transposon system comprising a stable but trans-active Ac element and a cis responsive Ds element has been established in transgenic tobacco. The development of this system is desirable for the realization of a gene tagging strategy employing these elements in heterologous plant species. Transgenic tobacco with a single transposed Ac element (Ac-18) which has sustained a 4 bp terminal deletion has been identified. Transposase activity of the stable Ac-18 was demonstrated in a tissue culture assay as well as in transgenic plants. When plants containing Ac-18 were crossed with transgenic plants carrying a Ds element, 25%–50% of the F1 progeny showed trans-activation of Ds transposition. Analysis of DNA of several F1 plants showed that each plant displayed a unique pattern of Ds transposition to new chromosomal sites.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aerts M, Jacobs M, Hernalsteen JP, Van Montague M, Schell J (1979) Induction and in vitro culture of Arabidopsis thaliana from gall tumors. Plant Sci Lett 17:43–50
Baker B, Schell J, Lörz H, Fedoroff NV (1986) Transposition of the maize controlling element “Activator” in tobacco. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 83:4844–4848
Baker B, Coupland G, Fedoroff NV, Starlinger P, Schell J (1987) Phenotypic assay for excision of the maize controlling element Ac in tobacco. EMBO J 6:1547–1554
Baker B, Coupland G, Hehl R, Fedoroff N, Lörz H, Czernilofsky P, Starlinger P, Schell J (1988) Transposition of Ac in tobacco. In: Nelson O, Bingham ET (eds) Plant transposable elements. Plenum Press, New York London
Bingham PM, Levis R, Rubin GM (1981) Cloning of DNA sequences from the white locus of D. melanogaster by novel and general method. Cell 25:693–704
Cooley L, Kelley R, Spradling A (1988) Insertional mutagenesis of the Drosophila genome with single P elements. Science 239:1121–1128
Coupland G, Baker B, Schell J, Starlinger P (1988) Characterization of the maize transposable element Ac by internal deletions. EMBO J 7:3653–3659
Czernilofsky AP, Hain R, Baker B, Wirtz U (1986) Studies on the structure and functional organization of foreign DNA integrated into the genome of N. tabacum. DNA 5:473–482
Fedoroff NV (1983) Controlling elements in maize. In: Shapiro JA (ed) Mobile genetic elements. Academic Press, New York
Fedoroff NV, Furtek DB, Nelson OE (1984) Cloning of the bronze locus in maize by a simple and generalizable procedure using the transposable element Activator (Ac). Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 81:3825–3829
Feinberg AP, Vogelstein B (1983) A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. Anal Biochem 132:6–13
Frischauf AM, Lehrach H, Poutska A, Murray I (1983) Lambda replacement vectors carrying polylinker sequences. J Mol Biol 170:827–842
Gray JC, Kung SD, Wildman SG, Sheen SJ (1974) Origin of Nicotiana tabacum L. detected by polypeptide composition of Fraction I protein. Nature 252:226–227
Greenblatt IM (1984) A chromosome replication pattern deduced from pericarp phenotypes resulting from movement of the transposable element, Modular, in maize. Genetics 108:471–485
Greenwald I (1985) lin-12, a nematode homeotic gene, is homologous to a set of mammalian proteins that includes epidermal growth factor. Cell 43:583–590
Hehl R, Sommer H, Saedler H (1987) Interaction between the Tam1 and Tam2 transposable elements of Antirrhinum majus. Mol Gen Genet 207:47–53
Horsch RB, Fry JE, Hoffmann NL, Eichholtz D, Rogers SG, Fraley RT (1985) A simple and general method for transferring genes into plants. Science 227:1229–1231
Kunze R, Stochaj U, Laufs J, Starlinger P (1987) Transcription of transposable element Activator (Ac) of Zea mays L. EMBO J 6:1555–1563
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning: A laboratory manual. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Martin C, Carpenter R, Sommer H, Saedler H, Coen ES (1985) Molecular analysis of instability in flower pigmentation of Antirrhinum majus, following isolation of the pallida locus. EMBO J 4:1625–1630
Müller-Neumann M, Yoder JI, Starlinger P (1984) The DNA sequence of the transposable element Ac of Zea mays L. Mol Gen Genet 198:19–24
Norrander J, Kempe T, Messing J (1983) Construction of improved M13 vectors using oligodeoxyribonucleotide-directed mutagenesis. Gene 26:101–106
O'Reilly C, Shepherd NS, Pereira A, Schwarz-Sommer Zs, Bertram I, Robertson DS, Peterson PA, Saedler H (1985) Molecular cloning of the a1 locus of Zea mays using the transposable elements En and Mu1. EMBO J 4:877–882
Peacock WJ, Dennis ES, Gerlach WL, Sachs MM, Schwartz D (1984) Insertion and excision of Ds controlling elements in maize. Cold Spring Harbor Symp Quant Biol 49:347–354
Pohlman RF, Fedoroff NV, Messing J (1984) The nucleotide sequence of the maize controlling element Activator. Cell 37:635–643
Rinchik EM, Russel LB, Copeland NG, Jenkins NA (1986) Molecular genetic analysis of the dilute-short ear (d-se) region of the mouse. Genetics 112:321–342
Saedler H, Nevers P (1985) Transposition in plants: A molecular model. EMBO J 4:585–590
Sanger F, Nicklen S, Coulson AR (1977) DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 74:5463–5467
Schwarz-Sommer Zs, Gierl A, Berndtgen R, Saedler H (1985) Sequence comparison of “states” of a1-m1 suggests a model of Spm (En) action. EMBO J 4:2439–2443
Shepherd NS (1988) Transposable elements and gene-tagging. In: Shaw C (ed) Plant molecular biology: A practical approach, IRL Press, London
Starlinger P, Baker B, Coupland G, Kunze R, Laufs J, Schell J, Stochaj U (1988) Studies on transposable element Ac of Zea mays. In: Nelson O, Bingham ET (eds) Plant transposable elements, Plenum Press, New York London
Tacke E, Schwarz-Sommer Zs, Peterson PA, Saedler H (1986) Molecular analysis of “states” of the A1 locus of Zea mays. Maydica 31:83–92
VanSluys MA, Tempe J, Fedoroff N (1987) Studies on the introduction and mobility of the maize Activator element in Arabidopsis thaliana and Daucus carota. EMBO J 6:3881–3889
Yanisch-Perron C, Vieira J, Messing J (1985) Improved phage cloning vectors and host strains: nucleotide sequence of the M13mp18 and pUC19 vectors. Gene 33:103–119
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Communicated by H. Saedler
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hehl, R., Baker, B. Induced transposition of Ds by a stable Ac in crosses of transgenic tobacco plants. Mol Gen Genet 217, 53–59 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330942
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00330942