title: Escherichia colimazEF Toxin-Antitoxin System as a Tool to Target Cell Ablation in Plants.
abstract: The Escherichia coli MazF is an endoribonuclease that cleaves mRNA at ACA sequences, thereby triggering inhibition of protein synthesis. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficiency of the mazEF toxin-antitoxin system in plants to develop biotechnological tools for targeted cell ablation.
  
  
  
  A double transformation strategy, combining expression of the mazE antitoxin gene under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter, reported to drive expression in all plant cells except within the tapetum, together with the expression of the mazF gene under the control of the TA29 tapetum-specific promoter in transgenic tobacco, was applied.
  
  
  
  No transgenic TA29-mazF line could be regenerated, suggesting that the TA29 promoter is not strictly tapetum specific and that MazF is toxic for plant cells. The regenerated 35S-mazE/TA29-mazF double-transformed lines gave a unique phenotype where the tapetal cell layer was necrosed resulting in the absence of pollen.
  
  
  
  These results show that the E. colimazEF system can be used to induce death of specific plant cell types and can provide a new tool to plant cell ablation.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Biotechnologie Vx00E9;gx00E9;tale, Universitx00E9; libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Gosselies, Belgium.
authors.forename: Fabien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baldacci-Cresp
authors.forename: Anaxi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Houbaert
authors.forename: Amana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Metuor Dabire
authors.forename: Adeline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mol
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Monteyne
authors.forename: Mondher
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: El Jaziri
authors.forename: Laurence
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van Melderen
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baucher
mesh_terms: D016923:Cell Death; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity*; D004722:Endoribonucleases / Q000235:genetics / Q000633:toxicity*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity*; D015870:Gene Expression; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; C422954:MazE protein, E coli; C422955:MazF protein, E coli; D004722:Endoribonucleases