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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #397262
Research Project: Evaluation and Genetic Improvement of Woody Ornamental Landscape Plants

Location: Floral and Nursery Plants Research

Title: Engineered cleistogamy in Camelina sativa for bioconfinement

Author
item HUANG, DEBAO - North Carolina State University
item GAO, LIWEI - North Carolina State University
item MCADAMS, JEREMY - North Carolina State University
item ZHAO, FANGZHOU - North Carolina State University
item LU, HONGYAN - North Carolina State University
item WU, YONGHUI - North Carolina State University
item MARTIN, JEREMY - North Carolina State University
item SHERIF, SHERIF - Virginia Tech
item SUBRAMANIAN, JAYASANKAR - University Of Guelph
item Duan, Hui
item LIU, WUSHENG - North Carolina State University

Submitted to: Horticulture Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/7/2022
Publication Date: 12/22/2022
Citation: Huang, D., Gao, L., Mcadams, J., Zhao, F., Lu, H., Wu, Y., Martin, J., Sherif, S.M., Subramanian, J., Duan, H., Liu, W. 2022. Engineered cleistogamy in Camelina sativa for bioconfinement. Horticulture Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhac280.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/hr/uhac280

Interpretive Summary: Camelina or false flax is an oilseed crop native to Europe and Central Asia that has potential in biodiesel, jet fuel, bioplastics, animal feed, and beneficial omega-3 applications. It is fast-growing, resistant to major fungal and insect infections, and can grow as a spring or winter crop on marginal lands. In the past decade, new varieties of camelina have been developed using genetic engineering technology to improve the fatty acid composition, protein profiles, yield, and drought resistance. This creates the possibility of gene flow from these genetically modified (GM) plants to wild plants. To address this risk, a team of scientists developed a technology to prevent pollen-mediated gene flow by expressing a gene from peach (PpJAZ1) in the flowers of camelina that allows self-fertilization without petal opening, thereby containing the transgenic pollen inside the closed flowers. This technology dramatically reduced pollen flow from the transgenic camelina plants to non-transgenic plants in the field, and could be used for bioconfinement in other dicot species.

Technical Abstract: Camelina sativa is a self-fertilizing and facultative outcrossing oilseed crop. Genetic engineering has been used to improve camelina yield potential for altered fatty acid composition, modified protein profiles, improved seed and oil yield, and enhanced drought resistance. The deployment of transgenic camelina in the field posits high risks related to the introgression of transgenes into non-transgenic camelina and wild relatives. Thus, effective bioconfinement strategies need to be developed to prevent pollen-mediated gene flow (PMGF) from transgenic camelina. In the present study, we overexpressed the cleistogamy-inducing PpJAZ1 gene from peach in transgenic camelina. Transgenic camelina overexpressing PpJAZ1 showed three levels of floral petal non-openness, affected pollen germination rates after anthesis but not during anthesis, and caused a minor silicle abortion only on the main branches. We also conducted field trials to examine the effects of the overexpressed PpJAZ1 on PMGF in the field, and found that the overexpressed PpJAZ1 dramatically inhibited PMGF from transgenic camelina to non-transgenic camelina under the field conditions. Thus, engineered cleistogamy using the overexpressed PpJAZ1 is a highly effective bioconfinement strategy to limit PMGF from transgenic camelina, and could be used for bioconfinement in other dicot species.