title: Steroid-inducible BABY BOOM system for development of fertile Arabidopsis thaliana plants after prolonged tissue culture.
abstract: We describe a steroid-inducible BABY BOOM system that improves plant regeneration in Arabidopsis leaf cultures and yields fertile plants. Regeneration of Arabidopsis thaliana plants for extended periods of time in tissue culture may result in sterile plants. We report here a novel approach for A. thaliana regeneration using a regulated system to induce embryogenic cultures from leaf tissue. The system is based on BABY BOOM (BBM), a transcription factor that turns on genes involved in embryogenesis. We transformed the nucleus of A. thaliana plants with BBM:GR, a gene in which the BBM coding region is fused with the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) steroid-binding domain. In the absence of the synthetic steroid dexamethasone (DEX), the BBM:GR fusion protein is localized in the cytoplasm. Only when DEX is included in the culture medium does the BBM transcription factor enter the nucleus and turn on genes involved in embryogenesis. BBM:GR plant lines show prolific shoot regeneration from leaf pieces on media containing DEX. Removal of DEX from the culture media allowed for flowering and seed formation. Therefore, use of BBM:GR leaf tissue for regeneration of plants for extended periods of time in tissue culture will facilitate the recovery of fertile plants.
authors.affiliation: Farmingdale State College, Hale Hall, 2350 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale, NY, 11735, USA. lutzk@farmingdale.edu.
authors.forename: Kerry A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.affiliation: Farmingdale State College, Hale Hall, 2350 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale, NY, 11735, USA.
authors.forename: Carla
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Farmingdale State College, Hale Hall, 2350 Broadhollow Road, Farmingdale, NY, 11735, USA.
authors.forename: Sahar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Khairzada
authors.affiliation: Rutgers The State University of NJ, Waksman Institute of Microbiology, 190 Frelinghuysen Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA.
authors.forename: Pal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maliga
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins
keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; BABY BOOM; Plant regeneration; Tissue culture