Antisense expression of a rice cellular apoptosis susceptibility gene (OsCAS} alters the height of transgenic rice

Cellular apoptosis susceptibility (CAS) gene plays important roles in mitosis, development and export of importin a from the nucleus, but its function in plant is unknown. In this study, a rice CAS ortholog (OsCAS), which encodes a predicted protein of 983 amino acids with 62% similarity to human CAS, was identified. DNA gel blot analysis revealed a single copy of OsCAS in the rice genome. A 973 bp fragment at the 3' end of OsCAS cDNA was cloned from rice cDNA library and transferred into rice in the antisense direction under the control of CaMV 35S promoter via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method, 105 transgenic lines were obtained. Expression of OsCAS was suppressed in the antisense transgenic lines as revealed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The antisense transgenic lines showed dwarf phenotypes. The results indicated that OsCAS was involved in culm development of rice.     

Transgenic rice homozygous lines expressing GNA showed enhanced resistance to rice brown planthopper

Mature seed-derived calli from two elite Chinese japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars Eyi 105 and Ewan 5 were co-transformed with two plasmids, pWRG1515 and pRSSGNA1, containing the selectable marker hygromycin phosphotransferase gene (hpt), the reporter β-glucuronidase gene (gusA) and the snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) lectin gene (gna) via particle bombardment. 61 independent transgenic rice plants were regenerated from 329 bombarded calli. 79% transgenic plants contained all the three genes, revealed by PCR/Southern blot analysis. Western blot analysis revealed that 36 out of 48 gna-containing transgenic plants expressed GNA (75%) at various levels with the highest expression being approximately 0.5% of total soluble protein. Genetic analysis confirmed Mendelian segregation of transgenes in progeny. From the R2 generations whose R1 parent plants showing 3:1 Mendelian segregation patterns, we identified five independent homozygous lines containing and expressing all the three transgenes. Insect bioassay and feeding tests showed that these homozygous lines had significant inhibition to rice brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens, BPH) by decreasing BPH survival and overall fecundity, retarding BPH development and declining BPH feeding. These BPH-resistant lines have been incorporated into rice insect resistance breeding program. This is the first report that homozygous transgenic rice lines expressing GNA, developed by genetic transformation and through genetic analysis-based selection, conferred enhanced resistance to BPH, one of the most damaging insect pests in rice.     

An anther-specific chalcone synthase-like geneD5 related to rice pollen development

It was shown in a previous analysis that D5 gene from rice (Oryza sativa L.) was an anther-specific gene encoding a chalcone synthase-related protein. In this study, D5 gene was found specifically expressed in tapetum cells as well as in the peripheral cells of the vascular bundle of rice anthers by RNA in situ hybridization. In order to study its function, D5 was transformed into rice in both sense and antisense directions driven by a rice Actin 1 promoter. It has been observed that the pollen grains from the antisense D5 transgenic rice plants are abnormal, indicating that D5 plays a critical role in rice pollen development.     

Introduction of antisense waxy gene into main parent lines of indica hybrid rice

Amylose content in rice endosperm is one of thekey determinants of rice eating and cooking quality, and thepoor quality of indica hybrid rice is closely related to thehigh amylose level in rice grains. In order to improve thegrain quality of the indica hybrid rice by genetic engineering,an antisense fragment of rice waxy gene, driven by theintroduced into three major parent lines of indica hybrid rice,all contain a high amylose level in the grains, via Agrobacte-rium, and more than 100 hygromycin-resistant plants wereregenerated. The analysis of PCR amplification and South-ern blots indicated that the T-DNA containing the antisensewaxy gene had been integrated into the genome of transgenicrice plants. Most of the primary transgenic rice plants grewnormally, and the mature seeds from these transgenic plantswere performed for analysis of the amylose content. Theresults showed that the amylose content in the endosperm ofsome grains was reduced and the lowest reached 7.02% inone homozygous transgenic line, 72.4% lower than that ofthe wild type. The influence of the altered amylose contenton the gelatinization temperature and gel consistency wasalso observed in several homozygous transgenic rice plants.     

Introduction of antisensewaxy gene into main parent lines ofindica hybrid rice

Amylose content in rice endosperm is one of the key determinants of rice eating and cooking quality, and the poor quality ofindica hybrid rice is closely related to the high amylose level in rice grains. In order to improve the grain quality of theindica hybrid rice by genetic engineering, an antisense fragment of ricewaxy gene, driven by the 5′-franking sequences of the ricewaxy gene, was successfully introduced into three major parent lines ofindica hybrid rice, all contain a high amylose level in the grains, viaAgrobacterium, and more than 100 hygromycinresistant plants were regenerated. The analysis of PCR amplification and Southern blots indicated that the T-DNA containing the antisensewaxy gene had been integrated into the genome of transgenic rice plants. Most of the primary transgenic rice plants grew normally, and the mature seeds from these transgenic plants were performed for analysis of the amylose content. The results showed that the amylose content in the endosperm of some grains was reduced and the lowest reached 7.02% in one homozygous transgenic line, 72.4% lower than that of the wild type. The influence of the altered amylose content on the gelatinization temperature and gel consistency was also observed in several homozygous transgenic rice plants. The two authors contributed equally to this work.     

Obtaining transgenic rice resistant to rice fungal blast disease by controlled cell death strategy

The strategy of the two-component system,composed of Barnase and Barstar which encode RNase and a specific inhibitor to the RNase respectively, is adopted to obtain transgenic rice resistant to rice fungal blast disease. In this study, two chimeric promoters, induced by rice blast fungus pathogen (Magnaporthe grisea), are fused with Barnase respectively to construct two plant expression vectors, pWBNBS and pPBNBS together with the Barstar driven by CaMV 35S promoter. The resistance of the transgenic rice lines to rice blast fungus disease and rice blight disease are evaluated. The results show that (1) the expression of Barnase is induced in rice leaves when inoculated with the spores of Magnaporthe grisea; (2) the induced expression level of Barnase surpasses the level of Barstar, which elicits a similar hypersensitive response (HR) in the leaves, and the transgenic plant shows high resistance to the rice fungal blast disease; and (3) transgenic rice plants also show obvious resistance to rice bacterial blight disease. Taken together, these results suggest that the transgenic rice plants harboring this two-component system acquire relatively broad spectrum resistance against pathogens, especially high resistance to rice fungal pathogen.     

Transformation of japonica rice with RHL gene and salt tolerance of the transgenic rice plant

Overexpression of the yeast HAL2 gene increases salt tolerance of yeast and plant. Rice HAL2-like (RHL) gene was introduced into a japonica rice cultivar HJ19 with Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Transgenic plants in R0 generation were selected on the principle of GUS-positive, RHL gene PCR-positive and normal growth. Hygromycin-resistant plants of some transgenic lines in R1 generation increased salt tolerance during the seedling and booting stage, being less damaged in the cytomembrane and stronger in leaf tissue viability under salt stress during booting period. Southern analysis of transgenic lines tolerant to salt in R1 generation showed that the RHL gene expression cassette had been successfully integrated into rice genome. Moreover, gene engineering breeding methodology and really salt-tolerant rice cultivar were discussed.     

Fertility analysis of the Arabidopsis transformed with antisense rice osRACD gene

The full length osRACD cDNA sequence was subcloned into the pBI121 plasmid in the antisense orientation under the control of the CaMV35S promoter to construct the expression vector pBID, and the constructs were introduced into Arabidopsis plants by using the vacuum infiltration method. The siliques of the transformants stopped growing after anthesis, and they turned yellow or died later; and the siliques from the control plants transformed by the pBI continued growing after anthesis and matured normally. In vitro pollen germination demonstrated that the growth and elongation process of the pollens of the transgenic plants was inhibited, the pollen tubes were shorter and slightly fatter than the tubes of the control plants, which grew normally with long cyclindrical tubes. The above results suggest the function of osRACD gene involved in regulation of the growth and elongation process of pollen tube, its encoding protein may be one of the important factors in regulation of fertility transition of the photoperiod-sensitive genic male-sterile rice Nongken 58S.     

Introducing antisense <Emphasis Type="Italic">waxy</Emphasis> gene into rice seeds reduces grain amylose contents using a safe transgenic technique

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) eating quality is one of themost important traits. Amylose content (AC) in rice en-dosperm is a major index affecting rice eating quality[1,2].It has a negative correlation with gel consistency of rice[3].Based on amylose content, r…     

Generation of selectable marker-free transgenic rice resistant to chewing insects using two co-transformation systems

To produce selectable marker-free (SMF) transgenic rice resistant to chewing insects, the Bacillus thuringiensis cryIA(c) gene (Bt) was introduced into two elite japonica rice varieties by using two Agrobacterium-mediated co-transformation systems. One system is with a single mini-twin T-DNA binary vector in one Agrobacterium strain, which consists of two separate T-DNA regions, one carrying the Bt while the other contains the selectable marker gene, hygromycin resistant gene (HPT). The other system uses two separate binary vectors in two separate Agrobacterium cultures, containing the Bt or HPT gene on individual plasmids. A lot of independent transgenic rice lines harboring both Bt and selectable marker genes were obtained. The results showed that the co-transformation frequency of the Bt gene and HPT gene was much higher by using the mini-twin T-DNA vector system (29.87%) than that by the two separate binary vector systems (4.52%). However, the frequency of the SMF transgenic rice plants obtained from the offspring of co-transgenic plants (21.74%) was lower for the mini-twin T-DNA vector system than that for the latter (50-60%). The data of ELISA implied that the expressed Bt proteins were quantitated as 0.025-0.103% of total leaf soluble proteins in the transgenic plant. Therefore, several elite transgenic rice lines, free of the selectable marker gene, were chosen. The results from both in vitro and in vivo insect bioassays indicated that the SMF transgenic rice was shown to be highly resistant to the striped stem borer and rice leaf folder. Moreover, in a natural field condition without any insecticide applied, all the transgenic rice plants were found to be not injured by the rice leaf folder, whereas the wild types were impaired seriously.     

拟南芥AtGluRS相互作用蛋白质VDAC及其转基因植物表型分析

电压依赖性阴离子通道蛋白质(voltage-dependent anion channel,VDAC)是拟南芥谷氨酰tRNA合成酶(AtGluRS)相互作用的蛋白质．为了研究VDAC蛋白的功能和作用,通过构建VDAC稳定表达载体,农杆菌介导的方法转化拟南芥,筛选和鉴定出VDAC过量和抑制表达植株．研究结果证实VDAC的过量和抑制表达植株影响气孔关闭和种子萌发．VDAC的过量表达导致植株对ABA敏感,VDAC的抑制表达降低了植株对ABA的敏感性．推测VDAC蛋白可能参与ABA信号途径．     

Efficient selection of homozygous lines of hybrid rice restorer with the transgeneXa21 using test cross and PCR

The homozygous restorer lines with a single copy of the transgene Xa21 have been obtained from the progenies of transgenic Minghui63 and Yanhui559 plants through PCR marker-assisted selection and test cross. These homozygous transgenic restorer lines can be used to breed hybrid rice with high resistance to bacterial leaf blight.     

褐飞虱喂养试验显示表达GNA的转基因水稻纯系抗褐飞虱

利用基因枪法将含有3个不同基因（hpt,gus和gna）的质粒pWRG1515和pRSSGNA1共同转化粳稻品种鄂晚5号成熟胚诱导的愈伤组织。共再生出35株独立转基因植株。PCR／Southern印迹法分析发现,83％的转基因植株含有所有3个外源基因。Western印迹法分析发现79％的含gna基因的转基因植株以不同水平表达GNA。遗传分析证实外源基因在转基因植株后代中以孟德尔方式遗传。从其R1代亲本为孟德尔3：1方式遗传的R2代中,鉴定出2个含有所有3个外源基因的独立转基因植株纯系。这些纯系具有相似的外源基因表达量。褐飞虱喂养试验表明,这些纯系对褐飞虱具有显著的抑制作用。这些褐飞虱抗性提高的转基因纯系将应用于水稻抗虫育种中。实验证明,通过遗传转化和筛选可获得含在农业上有应用价值基因的转基因水稻纯系。     

种植转Bt水稻对固氦细菌多样性和固氮酶铁蛋白基因nifH的水平转移的影响

通过对具有不同种植年限和不同种植强度的转Bt基因水稻与非转Bt基因水稻土壤中的细菌以及固氮细菌群落结构进行研究,发现转Bt水稻的种植可能会影响土壤中微生物群落的多样性,但是这种影响的可能只是暂时的,通过对测量种植水稻的芽长实验也得出相似的结论．另外,根据16SrDNA基因构建的系统发育进化树揭示了本实验分离的固氮细菌的遗传多样性,发现实验土壤中的固氮细菌主要分为放线菌门（Actinobacteria）（92％）和α-变形菌门（α-Pro—teobacteria）两大类．分离出的8株典型的固氮菌株,其16SrDNA基因和固氮基因nifH的序列两者的分布不一致,nifH的分布更为紧凑,为固氮基因可能发生了原位水平基因转移提供了证据．     

Isolation of cDNA fragment of fertility-related gene in photoperiod-sensitive genic male sterile rice

The photoperiod_sensitive genic male sterile rice (PGMR) is particularly useful to take advantage of heterosis in rice. mRNA differential display was used to isolate the fertility_relative genes in rice. After establishing an optimized mRNA differential display system, one of the differential cDNA fragments that maybe related to the development and maturation of rice panicle was cloned from a PGMR Nongken 58S.     

转基因水稻对赤霉素敏感性的初步研究

以水稻品种中花11及其转基因株系为材料,研究它们在苗期对GA3的反应程度.结果表明:用100mg/L的GA3在二叶期对各植株进行喷雾,5d后各个株系苗高都比以喷水的对照组显著增长.在充分考虑起始株高和试验期间对照正常生长动态变化的基础上提出了比净伸长率(specificnetelongateratio,GA3处理的净伸长率和对照净伸长率之比)的概念,并建议根据比净伸长率分析各株系对GA3的敏感性.应用该方法发现2份对GA3钝感的材料.文章报道这一结果并探讨了造成用比净伸长率与常用的“株高增长率”分析水稻品种/株系对GA3敏感性差异的原因.