Proceedings
of the XLV Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress
Salsomaggiore Terme, Italy - 26/29 September, 2001
ISBN 88-900622-1-5
Poster Abstract
EXPRESSION OF THE MAIZE B32 RIP PROTEIN IN RICE (ORYZA SATIVA L.) UNDER VARIOUS PROMOTERS
REALI A.*,
MESSEGUER J.**, PEÑAS G.**, CARRARA N.*, CONTI E.*, GAVAZZI
F.*, FORLANI F.***
* Istituto Sperimentale per
la Cerealicoltura, Sezione di Bergamo
eurice.elu@spm.it
** Institut
de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries - I.R.T.A., Departament de
Genètica Vegetal, Centre de Cabrils, Barcelona, Spain
*** Dipartimento
di Scienze Molecolari Agroalimentari, Università degli studi di Milano
Rice (Oryza sativa L.), genetic transformation, RIP, promoters,
defence genes
The main objective of our
studies on rice is focused on the introduction of the maize gene b32 into European
varieties and investigations on its potential role of defence gene against
fungal pathogens. Expression vectors for the introduction of the b32 maize gene in
rice (Oryza sativa spp. japonica) were constructed
considering three different promoters. Two constitutive promoters, p35S CaMV
and pUbi1, were expected to express the b32 gene constitutively during the life
cycle of the plant and the prbcS promoter
was expected to express b32 only in green tissues. Transgenic rice
plants were produced via biolistics using mature embryo-derived primary calli
as target tissues. Regenerated plants containing the maize gene were
micropropagated in vitro and subsequently transferred into greenhouse and grown
to maturity. Three independent events of transformation for each promoter were
chosen for further investigation. Molecular analyses confirmed gene integration
and western analyses showed that the b32 protein was consistently expressed in
leaf tissues of T0 in vitro plantlets. The same analyses confirmed that its
expression lasted in time from the young to mature plant stages. A detailed
analysis was accomplished for the several independent events of transformation
related to the expression levels in the plant tissues, with the different
promoters.