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Generation of selectable marker-free transgenic tomato resistant to drought, cold and oxidative stress using the Cre/loxP DNA excision system

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Abstract

The aim of this research was to generate selectable marker-free transgenic tomato plants with improved tolerance to abiotic stress. An estradiol-induced site-specific DNA excision of a selectable marker gene using the Cre/loxP DNA recombination system was employed to develop transgenic tomato constitutively expressing AtIpk2β, an inositol polyphosphate 6-/3-kinase gene from Arabidopsis thaliana. Transgenic tomato plants containing a selectable marker were also produced as controls. The expression of AtIpk2β conferred improved resistance to drought, cold and oxidative stress in both sets of transgenic tomato plants. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using this Cre/loxP-based marker elimination strategy to generate marker-free transgenic crops with improved stress tolerance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Professor Nam Hai Chua (Laboratory of Plant Molecular Biology, Rockefeller University, NY) and Professor Hong Wei Xue (Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China) for providing us the pX6-GFP vector and p2300 vector, respectively. This work was supported by the following grants: National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2006CB100106); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 30571196; 0933ZF11C1; 0933Z411C1). The Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No.: 2007AA10Z187).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Genetics, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 300 Fenglin Road, 200032, Shanghai, China

    Yue Zhang, Hua Liu, Bei Li, Jian-Tao Zhang & Hongxia Zhang

  2. Department of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Chuxiong Normal University, 461 Lucheng Road, 675000, Chuxiong, Yunnan, China

    Yizhou Li

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  1. Yue Zhang
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  2. Hua Liu
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  4. Jian-Tao Zhang
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  6. Hongxia Zhang
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Correspondence to Hongxia Zhang.

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Zhang, Y., Liu, H., Li, B. et al. Generation of selectable marker-free transgenic tomato resistant to drought, cold and oxidative stress using the Cre/loxP DNA excision system. Transgenic Res 18, 607–619 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-009-9251-6

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