Construction of chimeric inducible promoters by elicitors of rice fungal blast pathogen and their expression in transgenic rice

The promoter fragments of wheatGstA1 and potatoGst1 have been amplified by PCR, cloned and fused respectively to the minimal promoter sequence of rice actin gene (Act1)) and its 5′ untranslated leader sequence together withGUS. The constructs with 2 chimeric promoters (WGA and PGA) have been transferred into rice in order to analyze their inducibility patterns in transgenic rice plants. The results show that: WGA and PGA are both inducible by elicitors ofPyricularia oryzae in transgenic rice cells; the intron I of riceAct1 gene is important for the heterogenic expression of monocot and dicot promoter elements in rice; and theAct1 minimal promoter and its 5′ untranslated leader sequence produced low level background expression in rice.     

Salt tolerance of transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) withmtlD gene andgutD gene

Southern blot analysis indicated thatmtlD gene (encoding mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase) andgutD gene (encoding glucitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) had been integrated into the rice genome mediated byAgrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404(pBIGM). The expression of the above two genes in transgenic rice plants was demonstrated by Northern blot analysis and enzymatic activity assay. Analysis of sugar alcohol showed that transgenic rice plants could produce and accumulate mannitol and sorbitol. The salt tolerance of transgenic plants was much higher than that of their controls.     

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.     

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.     

Transformation of japonica rice with<Emphasis Type="Italic">RHL</Emphasis> gene and salt tolerance of the transgenic rice plant

Overexpression of the yeastHAL2 gene increases salt tolerance of yeast and plant. RiceHAL2-like (RHL) gene was introduced into ajaponica rice cultivar HJ19 withAgrobacterium 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 theRHL gene expression cassette had been successfully integrated into rice genome. Moreover, gene engineering breeding methodology and really salt-tolerant rice cultivar were discussed.     

分子标记辅助选育含有抗稻瘟病基因和软米基因两系不育系水稻新品系

以"浦软粳S"为转育亲本,利用分子标记辅助常规育种技术成功培育出含有Pi9,Pita,Pib和Pigm稻瘟病抗性基因及软米基因(Wx~(mq)),同时表现柱头外露率高的两系不育系水稻新品系"2179S"."2179S"不育系茎秆粗壮,矮杆大穗,株高为63.8 cm,柱头外露率平均为60%.研究结果为今后培育具有稻瘟病抗性的优质两系杂交水稻新组合提供不育系亲本.     

Isolation of a strong matrix attachment region (MAR) and identification of its function in vitro and in vivo

Inclusion of MARs in transgene cassettes enhances their expression and reduces position-effect variations in the transgenic host. Four new MARs (TM2, TM3, AM1 and AM2) were isolated from tobacco and Arabidopsis by PCR method. The nuclei isolated from suspensioncultured cells of rice were used to prepare nuclear matrix. With a characterized MAR (TM1) as a positive control, the Matrix-MAR interactions were tested by an in vitro binding assay to identify the DNA sequences as MARs and their binding strength to nuclear matrix in vitro was compared. The results showed that TM2 and TM3 had stronger binding strength than TM1. To determine the functions of the four new MARs in vivo, binary vectors pBI121 carrying a uidA GUS reporter gene were modified with direct repeat MARs inserted on both sides of the reporter gene cassette and were transferred into tobaccos via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation procedure. Quantitative GUS assays of the transgenic tobaccos showed that when flanking a GUS reporter gene TM1, TM2, TM3 and AM1 increased uidA GUS gene expression level approximately 1.5-fold, 5-fold, 1.35-fold, 1.3-fold respectively and AM2 has no effect on gene expression. TM2 was found to be a strong MAR that could effectively increase gene expression level and could be used as an effective enhancing element to construct high efficient expression vectors. In this note the relations among the sequence features, binding strength in vitro and function in vivo of the five MARs were analyzed, and the potential significance of TM2 in plant genetic engineering was discussed.     

Overexpression of phospholipase <Emphasis Type="Italic">D</Emphasis>α gene enhances drought and salt tolerance of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Populus tomentosa</Emphasis>

The cDNA of AtPLDa （Arabidopsis thaliana Phospholipase Da） gene was introduced into P. tomentosa （Populus tomentosa） under the control of the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Southern and Northern blot analyses suggested that the AtPLDa gene has been transferred into the P. tomentosa genome. No obvious morphological or developmental difference was observed between the transgenic and wild-type （WT） plants. Drought and salt tolerance and gene expression of seedlings of several transgenic lines and WT plants （control） were studied. The results showed that the rhizogenesis rate and the average root-length of transgenic lines were significantly higher than WT plants after mannitol and NaCI treatment under the same growth conditions. Northern blot analysis indicated that the higher the PLDa expression in the transgenic plants, the more tolerant the transgenic plants are to drought and salt treatment. Meanwhile, another group of these transgenic lines and WT plants （control） were treated with PEG6000 and NaCI separately. The contents of chlorophylls and the activities of some anti- oxidant enzymes （superoxide dismutase, guaiacol peroxidase and catalase） as well as malondialdehyde and relative electrical conductivity were analyzed. Altogether, our results demonstrated that overexpression of the PLDa gene can enhance the drought and salt tolerance in transgenic P. tomentosa plants.     

Generating of rice OsCENH3-GFP transgenic plants and their genetic applications

In order to investigate rice functional centromeres, OsCENH3-GFP chimeric gene was constructed and transformed into the indica rice variety, Zhongxian 3037, mediated by Agrobacturium. The integration of the exogenous genes in the transgenic plants was confirmed by PCR and Southern blotting. The transgenic plants grow normally during their whole life time, just like Zhongxian 3037. No significant defects were detected in either mitosis or meiosis of the transgenic plants. The overlapping of GFP signals and anti-CENH3 foci in both mitotic and meiotic cells from T0 and T1 generation plants indicated that GFP had been successfully fused with CENH3, so the GFP signals can well represent the CENH3 locations on each chromosome. To evaluate the applicability of the transgenic plants to other genetic studies, fluorescence in situ hybridization （FISH） using rice centromeric tandem repetitive sequence CentO as the probe was conducted on the zygotene chromosomes of pollen mother cells （PMCs）. It has been revealed that the GFP signals are overlapping with CentO FISH signals, showing that CentO is one of the key elements constituting rice functional centromeres. Immunofluorescent staining using anti-o-tublin antibody and anti-PAIR2 antibody on the chromosomes during mitosis and meiosis stages of the transgenic plants further reveals that OsCENH3-GFP transgenic plants can be widely used for studying rice molecular biology, especially for tagging functional centromeres in both living cells and tissues.     

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…     

Investigation of the biological roles of autophagy in appressorium morphogenesis in Magnaporthe oryzae

Magnaporthe oryzae has been used as a primary model organism for investigating fungus-plant interaction. Many researches focused on molecular mechanisms of appressorium formation to restrain this fungal pathogen. Autophagy is a very high conserved process in eukaryotic cells. Recently, autophagy has been considered as a key process in development and differentiation in M. oryzae. In this report, we present and discuss the current state of our knowledge on gene expression in appressorium formation and the progress in autophagy of rice blast fungi.     

bar基因表达框和完整质粒转化对水稻农艺性状的变异效应比较

通过分析转基因植株的株高、分蘖数、结实率、千粒重四个主要农艺性状的变异,比较基因枪法转化的基因表达框(仅含启动子、基因开放阅读框和终止子序列)和完整质粒两种基因载体形式对水稻农艺性状的变异效应.结果表明,与非转基因亲本相比,转基因植株的千粒重和分蘖数与对照无显著差异;株高变异也不大,17个转基因株系中,仅基因表达框转化的2个株系XFb-36和XFb-63株高变矮;而结实率变异最大,有9个转基因株系结实率显著降低,变异率达50%以上.总体上看,基因表达框和完整质粒两种基因载体形式对水稻农艺性状的变异效应差异不明显,基因枪转化对水稻农艺性状的变异效应主要表现为降低植株的育性,转基因水稻植株的农艺性状变异主要来源于转基因过程中组织培养引起的无性系变异.     

Salt tolerance of transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) with mtlD gene and gutD gene

Southern blot analysis indicated that mtlD gene (encoding mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase) and gutD gene (encoding glucitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) had been integrated into the rice genome mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404(pBIGM). The expression of the above two genes in transgenic rice plants was demonstrated by Northern blot analysis and enzymatic activity assay. Analysis of sugar alcohol showed that transgenic rice plants could produce and accumulate mannitol and sorbitol. The salt tolerance of transgenic plants was much higher than that of their controls.     

Expression analysis ofgdcsP promoter from C3-C4 intermediate plantFlaveria anomala in transgenic rice

ThegdcsP promoter isolated from C₃-C₄ intermediate plantFlaveria anomala was fused to the β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene. The chimeric gene was inserted into the binary vector pBin19 and introduced into the rice (Oryza sativa L.) cv. 8706 byAgrobacteriummediated gene transfer. GUS activity can be detected in leaf, leaf sheath, stem and root tissues via fluorometric GUS assay. However, no GUS activity was found in mature endosperm. Histochemical localization revealed that GUS expression was exclusively restricted to vascular tissues in transgenic plants. This promoter also showed spatial-temporal expression patterns that GUS expression declined significantly with the maturity of plants. These expression patterns make thegdcsP promoter extremely valuable in the applied biotechnology that needs target gene expression restricted to vascular tissues.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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.     

Adaptation of photoperiodic control pathways produces short-day flowering in rice

The photoperiodic control of flowering is one of the important developmental processes of plants because it is directly related to successful reproduction. Although the molecular genetic analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana, a long-day (LD) plant, has provided models to explain the control of flowering time in this species, very little is known about its molecular mechanisms for short-day (SD) plants. Here we show how the photoperiodic control of flowering is regulated in rice, a SD plant. Overexpression of OsGI, an orthologue of the Arabidopsis GIGANTEA (GI) gene in transgenic rice, caused late flowering under both SD and LD conditions. Expression of the rice orthologue of the Arabidopsis CONSTANS (CO) gene was increased in the transgenic rice, whereas expression of the rice orthologue of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) was suppressed. Our results indicate that three key regulatory genes for the photoperiodic control of flowering are conserved between Arabidopsis, a LD plant, and rice, a SD plant, but regulation of the FT gene by CO was reversed, resulting in the suppression of flowering in rice under LD conditions.