Foreign gene products can be enhanced by introduction into low storage protein mutants

Y Tada, S Utsumi, F Takaiwa - Plant Biotechnology Journal, 2003 - Wiley Online Library
Y Tada, S Utsumi, F Takaiwa
Plant Biotechnology Journal, 2003Wiley Online Library
Transgenic rice expressing soybean glycinin in its endosperm was crossed with two types of
low‐glutelin mutants to determine how much storage the protein mutants can contribute to
increases in glycinin accumulation. The glycinin level (102 µg/100 mg seed) in the parental
transgenic line was enhanced to≈ 224–237 µg/100 mg seed within a genetic background
deficient in glutelin (ie of low glutelins). The enrichment of this foreign gene product was
compensated by a decrease in the expression of other endogenous prolamine and globulin …
Summary
Transgenic rice expressing soybean glycinin in its endosperm was crossed with two types of low‐glutelin mutants to determine how much storage the protein mutants can contribute to increases in glycinin accumulation. The glycinin level (102 µg/100 mg seed) in the parental transgenic line was enhanced to ≈ 224–237 µg/100 mg seed within a genetic background deficient in glutelin (i.e. of low glutelins). The enrichment of this foreign gene product was compensated by a decrease in the expression of other endogenous prolamine and globulin storage proteins, resulting in an almost equivalent total amount of seed storage proteins. These results show that low storage protein mutants can provide potentially useful hosts for the expression of foreign genes, allowing a higher‐level accumulation, because they can provide wider space for the accumulation of foreign gene products than in the normal host plant.
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