title: Avidin expressed in transgenic rice confers resistance to the stored-product insect pests Tribolium confusum and Sitotroga cerealella.
abstract: Rice (Oryza sativa var. Nipponbare) was transformed with an artificial avidin gene. The features of this construct are as follows: (1) a signal peptide sequence derived from barley alpha amylase was added at the N-terminal region, (2) codon usage of the gene was optimized for rice, and (3) the gene was driven by rice glutelin GluB-1, an endosperm-specific promoter. Avidin was produced in the grain of the transgenic rice but not in the leaves. The concentration of avidin in the kernels was about 1,800 ppm. All larvae of the confused flour beetle (Tribolium confusum) and Angoumois grain moth (Sitotroga cerealella) died when fed transgenic avidin rice powder or kernels, respectively, whereas most of the test insects developed into adults when they were fed a nontransgenic rice control diet. Avidin extracted from the transgenic rice kernel lost most biotin-binding activity after 5 min heating at 95 degrees C.
authors.affiliation: National Food Research Institute, Ibaraki, Japan. yozako@affrc.go.jp
authors.forename: Koh-Ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoza
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Imamura
authors.forename: Karl J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kramer
authors.forename: Thomas D
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.forename: Sumiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Kohki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawasaki
authors.forename: Fumio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Takaiwa
authors.forename: Ken'ichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ohtsubo
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001360:Avidin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000494:pharmacology; D001483:Base Sequence; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D015870:Gene Expression; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007814:Larva / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009036:Moths / Q000187:drug effects*; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D014231:Tribolium / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D001360:Avidin