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Title: Inherited transgene expression of the uidA and bar genes in Lilium longiflorum cv. Nellie White

Author
item Kamo, Kathryn

Submitted to: Floriculture, Ornamental and Plant Biotechnology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/14/2011
Publication Date: 5/2/2011
Citation: Kamo, K.K. 2011. Inherited transgene expression of the uidA and bar genes in Lilium longiflorum cv. Nellie White. Floriculture, Ornamental and Plant Biotechnology. 5(1)35-39.

Interpretive Summary: Lilies are a major cutflower and garden flower grown worldwide. Substantial losses of a lily crop occur when they are grown in the field and become infected with the root lesion nematode. The fumigant and several of the pesticides currently used to control nematodes in the field are predicted to be banned in the future, and there is a need for alternative methods of control. Genetic engineering for nematode resistance is a possibility. Successful genetic engineering of plants requires that the gene used to confer resistance to the pathogen be transmitted and expressed in progeny if the genetically engineered plants are to be used in breeding programs or when applied to seed-propagated lilies. This study examines the transmission and expression of both the bar and GUS reporter genes in lilies. This study indicates that transmission of these transgenes to progeny occurred with low frequency, and expression of both transgenes occurred in the T1 generation.

Technical Abstract: The expression of two transgenes, bar and uidA, was studied in Lilium longiflorum cv. Nellie White plants. ‘Nellie White’ had been transformed using the gene gun to bombard with pDM327 that contains the bar-uidA fusion gene under control of the CaMV 35S promoter. PCR analysis confirmed that eight T0 plant lines were not chimeric. Crosses using the eight T0 plants were made to L. longiflorum cvs. Sakai, Yin tung, Snow Queen, White Europe, and Flavo. The bar gene was transmitted to 15% of the 151 T1 seedlings analyzed, with transmission success rates ranging from 0-100% depending on the T0 plant line. Only 13 of the 22 T1 seedlings with the bar gene also contained the uidA gene. Expression of the bar gene as determined by immunological detection of phosphinothricin acetyltransferase occurred in all eight T1 plant lines that contained the bar gene. One T0 parent line had a notably high level of both bar and GUS expression, and this high level expression continued in the T1 plants. This study indicates that transmission of these transgenes to progeny occurred with low frequency, and expression of both transgenes occurred in the T1 generation.