Expression of intron modified NPT II genes in monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plant cells

Christoph Maas*, Craig G. Simpson, Peter Eckes, Hedva Schickler, John W.S. Brown, Bernd Reiss, Klaus Salchert, Ilan Chet, Jeff Schell, Christoph Reichel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Intron sequences from monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous origin were used to abolish marker gene expression in prokaryotes (Escherichia coli and Agrobacterium tumefaciens) but permit expression in selected eukaryotic systems using the eukaryotic specific splicing mechanism. A 1014 bp maize Shrunken-1 (Sh 1) intron 1 flanked by exon 1 and exon 2 sequences was cloned into the N-terminal of the NPT II-coding region. Transient gene expression analysis revealed that the modified neomycin phosphotransferase II (NPT II) gene, driven by the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter, is expressed in barley protoplasts, but poorly expressed in tobacco protoplasts. In dicotyledonous cells AU-rich sequences are known to be important for efficient splicing and therefore an attempt was made to improve expression of the NPT II gene, containing the Sh 1 intron 1, in tobacco by increasing the AU content from 57% to 69%. Reverse transcriptase PCR analysis of RNA from transiently expressed NPT II transcripts from tobacco protoplasts revealed that despite the increase in AU-content, NPT II was still poorly expressed. Cryptic splice sites were identified as one possible cause for missplicing of the Sh 1 intron 1 in dicots and poor levels of expression. Alternatively, cloning of the 198 bp intron 2 of the potato STLS 1 gene (81% AU) into the N-terminal part of the NPT II-coding region resulted in proper expression of NPT II in tobacco as well as in barley protoplasts and abolished marker gene expression in prokaryotes. The successful insertion of an intron into a selectable marker gene which completely abolishes gene expression in prokaryotes, without affecting expression of chimeric genes in monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plant cells provides a suitable system to reduce the number of false-positives in transgenic plant production.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)15-28
Number of pages14
JournalMolecular Breeding
Volume3
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997

Keywords

  • Barley
  • Intron
  • NPT II
  • Reporter genes
  • Selection
  • Tobacco

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