Dinitroaniline herbicide-resistant transgenic tobacco plants generated by co-overexpression of a mutant alpha-tubulin and a beta-tubulin.
Dinitroaniline herbicides are used for the selective control of weeds in arable crops. Dinitroaniline herbicide resistance in the invasive weed goosegrass was previously shown to stem from a spontaneous mutation in an alpha-tubulin gene. We transformed and regenerated tobacco plants with an alpha/beta-tubulin double gene construct containing the mutant alpha-tubulin gene and showed that expression of this construct confers a stably inherited dinitroaniline-resistant phenotype in tobacco. In all transformed lines, the transgene alpha- and beta-tubulins increased the cytoplasmic pool of tubulin approximately 1.5-fold while repressing endogenous alpha- and beta-tubulin synthesis by up to 45% in some tissues. Transgene alpha- and beta-tubulin were overexpressed in every plant tissue analyzed and comprised approximately 66% of the total tubulin in these tissues. Immunolocalization studies revealed that transgene alpha- and beta-tubulins were incorporated into all four microtubule arrays, indicating that they are functional. The majority of the alpha/beta-tubulin pools are encoded by the transgenes, which implies that the mutant alpha-tubulin and the beta-tubulin can perform the majority, if not all, of the roles of microtubules in both juvenile and adult tobacco plants.
Anthony
R G
RG
School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, UK.
Reichelt
S
S
Hussey
P J
PJ
D000814:Aniline Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001549:Benzamides / Q000494:pharmacology; D001709:Biotechnology; D004136:Dinitrobenzenes / Q000494:pharmacology; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006540:Herbicides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000187:drug effects*; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D013424:Sulfanilamides; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D014404:Tubulin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D000814:Aniline Compounds; D001549:Benzamides; D004136:Dinitrobenzenes; D006540:Herbicides; D013424:Sulfanilamides; D014404:Tubulin; C001059:pronamide; C012465:oryzalin; C030856:pendimethalin