Gain-of-function inArabidopsis(GAINA) for identifying functional genes inHevea brasiliensis.
BACKGROUND
Forward genetics approaches are not popularly applied in non-model plants due to their complex genomes, long life cycles, backward genetic studies etc. Researchers have to adopt reverse genetic methods to characterize gene functions in non-model plants individually, the efficiency of which is usually low.


RESULTS
In this study, we report a gain-of-function inArabidopsis(GAINA) strategy which can be used for batch identification of functional genes in a plant species. This strategy aims to obtain the gain-of-function of rubber tree genes through overexpressing transformation ready full-length cDNA libraries inArabidopsis. An initial transformation test produced about two thousand independent transgenicArabidopsislines, in which multiple obvious aberrant phenotypes were observed, suggesting the gain-of-function of rubber tree genes. The transferred genes were further isolated and identified. One gene identified to be metallothionein-like protein type 3 gene was further transferred intoArabidopsisand reproduced a similar aberrant phenotype.


CONCLUSIONS
The GAINA system proves to be an efficient tool for batch identification of functional genes inHevea brasiliensis, and also applicable in other non-model plants.
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture for Tropical Crops Physiology, Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science, Danzhou City, Hainan People's Republic of China ; Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science, Danzhou, 571737 Hainan People's Republic of China.
Han
H
Cheng
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture for Tropical Crops Physiology, Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science, Danzhou City, Hainan People's Republic of China.
Jing
J
Gao
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture for Tropical Crops Physiology, Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science, Danzhou City, Hainan People's Republic of China.
Haibin
H
Cai
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture for Tropical Crops Physiology, Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science, Danzhou City, Hainan People's Republic of China.
Jianshun
J
Zhu
Key Laboratory of Ministry of Agriculture for Tropical Crops Physiology, Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science, Danzhou City, Hainan People's Republic of China ; Rubber Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Science, Danzhou, 571737 Hainan People's Republic of China.
Huasun
H
Huang
Arabidopsis; Forward genetics; Full-length cDNA library; Gain-of-function; Mutation; Rubber tree