title: An Ac transposon system based on maize chromosome 4S for isolating long-distance-transposed Ac tags in the maize genome.
abstract: Transposon tagging is an important tool for gene isolation and functional studies. In maize, several transposon-tagging systems have been developed, mostly using Activator/Dissociation (Ac/Ds) and Mutator systems. Here, we establish another Ac-based transposon system with the donor Ac tightly linked with sugary1 (su1) on maize chromosome 4S. Newly transposed Ac (tr-Acs) were detected based on a negative dosage effect, and long-distance-transposed Ac events were identified and isolated from the donor Ac by a simple backcross scheme. In this study, we identified 208 independent long-distance-transposed Ac lines. Thirty-one flanking sequences of these tr-Acs were isolated and localized in the maize genome. As found in previous studies, the tr-Acs preferentially inserted into genic sequences. The distribution of tr-Acs is not random. In our study, the tr-Acs preferentially transposed into chromosomes 1, 2, 9 and 10. We discuss the preferential distribution of tr-Acs from Ac systems. Our system is complementary to two other Ac-based regional-mutagenesis systems in maize, and the combined use of these systems will achieve an even and high-density distribution of Ac elements throughout the maize genome for functional-genomics studies.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Bio-energy Crop, 333 Nanchen Road, 200444 Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhaoying
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Pengfei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhengkai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Rentao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D032461:Chromosomes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D018744:DNA, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D018745:Genome, Plant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D018744:DNA, Plant