title: Excision of selectable marker gene from transgenic tobacco using the GM-gene-deletor system regulated by a heat-inducible promoter.
abstract: To excise a selectable marker gene from transgenic plants, a new binary expression vector based on the 'genetically modified (GM)-gene-deletor' system was constructed. In this vector, the gene coding for FLP site-specific recombinase under the control of a heat shock-inducible promoter HSP18.2 from Arabidopsis thaliana and isopentenyltransferase gene (ipt), as a selectable marker gene under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S (CaMV 35S) promoter, were flanked by two loxP/FRT fusion sequences as recombination sites in direct orientation. Histochemical staining for GUS activity showed that, upon induction by heat shock, all exogenous DNA, including the selectable marker gene ipt, beta-glucuronidase (gusA) gene and the FLP recombinase gene, between two loxP/FRT sites was eliminated efficiently from primary transgenic tobacco plants. Molecular analysis further confirmed that excision of the marker gene (ipt) was heritable and stable. Our approach provides a reliable strategy for auto-excising a selectable marker gene from calli, shoots or other tissues of transgenic plants after transformation and producing marker-free transgenic plants.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Beibei, Chongqing, 400715, China. luokeming@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Keming
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017796:Caulimovirus / Q000235:genetics; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005819:Genetic Markers; D005966:Glucuronidase / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D005819:Genetic Markers; C446287:HSP18.2 protein, Arabidopsis; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D004254:DNA Nucleotidyltransferases; C045119:FLP recombinase; D005966:Glucuronidase