抗除草剂转基因大豆后代遗传分析

分析了来源于农杆菌介导的4个独立的大豆转化系的后代遗传特性。分别采用种子切片GUS染色方法和除草剂涂抹以及喷洒方法检测gus报告基因和抗除草剂bar基因在后代的表达。其中3个转化系T1代gus基因和bar基因能够以孟德尔方式3：1连锁遗传,说明这2个基因整合在大豆基因组的同一位点。这3个转化系在T2代获得了纯合的转化系,并能够稳定遗传至T5代。有一个转化系在T1代GUS和抗除草剂检测都为阴性,但通过Southern杂交证明转基因存在于后代基因组,显示发生了转基因沉默。为了证明转基因沉默是转录水平还是转录后水平,T1代植物叶片接种大豆花叶病毒（SMV）并不能抑制转基因沉默,说明该转化系基因沉默可能不是发生在转录后水平。     

基因枪法转基因水稻中hpt基因稳定遗传

基因枪转化将潮霉素磷酸转移酶基因（ｈｐｔ）导入粳稻品种７７１７０,获得可育的转基因植株,研究外源基因遗传的稳定性。自交后代（Ｔ１和Ｔ２）经潮霉素筛选获得抗性植株和敏感植株,分子鉴定结果表明抗性植株带有ｈｐｔ基因,而敏感植株中没有ｈｐｔ基因存在。Ｔ１和Ｔ２代中潮霉素抗性表现为显性单基因位点的遗传方式,符合孟德尔分离规律,并得到分子鉴定结果的证实。Ｓｏｕｔｈｅｒｎ杂交结果显示,ｈｐｔ基因多拷贝整合在水     

The Frequency of Silencing in Arabidopsis Thaliana Varies Highly Between Progeny of Siblings and can be Influenced by Environmental Factors

In a collection of 111 transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana lines, silencing of the nptII gene was observed in 62 (56%) of the lines and three distinct nptII-silencing phenotypes were identified. Two T-DNA constructs were used, which differed in distance and orientation of the marker gene relative to the border sequences. Comparison of the sets of lines generated with each vector, indicate that the T-DNA construct configuration influence the incidence of lines displaying silencing, as well as the distribution of silencing phenotypes. Twenty lines were investigated more thoroughly. The frequency of silencing varied between siblings in 19 lines, including three lines containing a single T-DNA copy. The last line showed 100% silencing. The gus gene present in both constructs could be expressed in the presence of a silenced nptII gene. Investigation of methylation at a single site in the pnos promoter revealed partial methylation in multi-copy lines, but no methylation in single-copy lines. For 16 lines, the overall frequencies of silencing differed significantly between control plants and plants exposed to temperature stress; in 11 of these lines at the 0.1% level. In several cases, the frequency of silencing in progeny of stress-treated plants was higher than for the control group, while other lines showed higher frequencies of kanamycin-resistant progeny for the stress-treated sibling plants.     

Epigenetic repeat-induced gene silencing (RIGS) inArabidopsis

In several plant systems expression of structurally intact genes may be silenced epigenetically when a transgenic construct increases the copy number of DNA sequences. Here we report epigenetic silencing inArabidopsis lines containing transgenic inserts of defined genetic structure, all at the same genomic locus. These comprise an allelic series that includes a single copy of the primary insert, which carries repeated drug resistance transgenes, and a set of its derivatives, which as a result of recombination within the insert carry different numbers and alleles of resistance genes. Although the drug resistance genes remained intact, both the primary and some recombinant lines nevertheless segregated many progeny that were partly or fully drug-sensitive because of silencing. As in other systems silencing was reversible, and correlated with decreased steady-state mRNA and increased DNA methylation. Each different number and combination of genes, on the same or different (i.e., homologous) chromosomes, conditioned its own idiosyncratic segregation pattern. Strikingly, lines with a single gene segregated only a few slightly drug-sensitive progeny whereas multi-gene lines segregated many highly sensitive progeny, indicating dependence of silencing at this locus on repeated sequences. This argues strongly against explanations based on antisense RNA, but is consistent with explanations based on ectopic DNA pairing. One possibility is that silencing reflects the interaction of paired homologous DNA with flanking heterologous DNA, which induces condensation of chromatin into a non-transcribable state.     

Inheritance and expression of a transgene insert in an aneuploid tobacco line

A T-DNA locus comprising nptII, uidA and nos genes — all under the control of the nos promoter (this locus was designated K because it encodes resistance to Kanamycin) - was found to be inherited erratically in a transgenic tobacco line. This anomalous behavior was partially explained following a karyotype analysis of plants representing several generations: these plants were aneuploids, presumably for the K-containing chromosome. During four generations of sexual propagation, transgenic plants that were either trisomic or tetrasomic for the K-containing chromosome (i.e. 2n=49 or 2n=50, respectively) were obtained. The trisomic plants (2n=48+1) were virtually indistinguishable phenotypically from normal euploids (2n=4x=48), whereas the tetrasomic plants (2n=48+2) were smaller, had somewhat misshapen leaves and exhibited reduced fertility. Although the amount of NPTH protein in different trisomic (K--, KK-, KKK) and tetrasomic (KK--, KKK-) plants was generally consistent with a K dosage effect, the genetic behavior of each trisomic — with respect to segregation of Kan^R and marker gene activity in progeny — was unique and not completely explicable by invoking aneuploidy. Specifically, unexpected gains or losses of K could occur, suggesting the formation of double reductional gametes and/or frequent gene conversion at this locus. The susceptibility of K locus marker genes to trans-inactivation in the trisomic and tetrasomic lines was tested by crossing in partially homologous silencing loci. In all transgenotypes tested, the three K marker genes were sensitive to trans-silencing, which was accompanied by methylation in all copies of the nos promoter. In addition to this directed inactivation/methylation, the K locus could also undergo infrequent, spontaneous partial methylation, which produced stable epialleles. In most plants, however, the multiple copies of the nos promoter at this locus remained unmethylated and active through four generations in all transgenotypes examined. The significance of these results for irregular inheritance patterns, aneuploid syndromes and homology-dependent gene silencing is discussed.     

Epimutation of repeated genes in Ascobolus immersus.

Ascobolus immersus artificial gene repeats were shown previously to be subject premeiotically to both cytosine methylation and inactivation. We studied sexual progenies of strains harbouring two wild type copies of the endogenous met2 gene lying either in tandem array or at ectopic unlinked positions, by (i) investigating the methylation status, (ii) searching for mutations and (iii) analysing the inheritance of inactivation both in mitotic and sexual offspring. 100% of the 'tandem' progeny and 64% of the 'ectopic' progeny had methylated repeats and displayed gene inactivation. Similar methylation patterns involving all or most of the cytosine residues within the repeats were observed in both arrangements. The inactivated met2 copies were totally devoid of mutation, as deduced from: (i) extensive restriction site analysis and DNA sequencing; (ii) the finding that all the Met- derivatives tested reverted to prototrophy in selective conditions; and (iii) the finding that an inactivated copy of met2 stripped of its methylation through amplification in Escherichia coli regained activity when reintroduced in A.immersus. In the absence of selection, gene silencing and methylation were faithfully maintained through mitotic divisions and through five successive sexual cycles. Altogether, these data show the epimutational nature of this methylation induced premeiotically (MIP) process.