Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Wilkinson, J.
Right arrow Articles by Twell, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Wilkinson, J.
Right arrow Articles by Twell, D.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Wilkinson, J.
Right arrow Articles by Twell, D.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

Journal of Experimental Botany, Vol 49, 1481-1490, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press

ARTICLES

Antisense-mediated suppression of transgene expression targeted specifically to pollen

J Wilkinson, K Lindsey and D Twell
Department of Biology, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK; Present address: Plant Sciences Unit, Unilever Research, Colworth House, Sharnbrook, Beds. MK44 1LQ, UK; Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK; Corresponding author; Fax: +44 116 2522791; E-mail: twe@le.ac.uk

A potential problem in the field release of transgenic plants is the spread of foreign gene products via pollen. Therefore, the use of the tomato pollen-specific lat52 gene promoter was investigated as a means of targeting antisense RNA to pollen without affecting transgene expression elsewhere in the plant. A transgenic tobacco line T115, which showed GUS expression in pollen, leaves and roots were retransformed with a construct containing the pollen-specific lat52 promoter driving the GUS encoding uid A gene in antisense orientation. From 24 independent transformants obtained, 19 showed a significant reduction in pollen GUS activity. Of these lines, four showed a reproducible antisense effect in pollen in the next generation, while it was shown in one line that GUS activity in leaves and roots was also unaffected. To ascertain the effectiveness of the antisense strategy to downregulate very high levels of pollen expression, a lat52-gus antisense construct was introduced into tobacco lines containing lat52-gus, which had pollen GUS activity of up to 250 times greater than in line T115. Results showed that 30 out of 34 independent lines exhibited a significant antisense effect in pollen, confirming the effectiveness of pollen-targeted antisense strategy to reduce undesirable expression in pollen independent of expression level in pollen.Keywords: Antisense, -glucuronidase, lat52 promoter, pollen, transgenic plant release.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.