Complementation of anArabidopsis thaliana biotin auxotroph with anEscherichia coli biotin biosynthetic gene

TheArabidopsis thaliana biotin auxotrophbio1 was rendered prototrophic by transformation with a chimeric transgene containing theEscherichia coli bioA gene driven by a constitutive promoter. ThebioA gene encodes the biotin biosynthetic enzyme 7,8-diaminopelargonic acid aminotransferase. Unlike the untransformed control plants, transgenic plants expressing the bacterial transgene synthesized biotin and grew to maturity without biotin-deficiency symptoms. These findings demonstrate thatbio1/bio1 mutant plants are defective in the gene encoding 7,8-diaminopelargonic acid aminotransferase.