Transposon Tagging of the Sulfur Gene of Tobacco Using Engineered Maize Ac/Ds Elements

CITING ARTICLES
Citing Articles via Google Scholar

Transposon Tagging of the Sulfur Gene of Tobacco Using Engineered Maize Ac/Ds Elements

Wayne P. Fitzmaurice^a,b,c, Long V. Nguyen^c, Earl A. Wernsman^b, William F. Thompson^a, and Mark A. Conkling^c
^a Department of Botany, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
^b Department of Crop Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
^c Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695

Corresponding author: Wayne P. Fitzmaurice, Biosource Technologies, Inc., 3333 Vaca Valley Pkwy., Suite 1000, Vacaville, CA 95688-9421., wayne.fitzmaurice{at}biosourcetechnologies.com (E-mail)

Communicating editor: V. L. CHANDLER

The Sulfur gene of tobacco is nuclearly encoded. A Su alleleat this locus acts as a dominant semilethal mutation and causesreduced accumulation of chlorophyll, resulting in a yellow colorin the plant. An engineered transposon tagging system, basedupon the maize element Ac/Ds, was used to mutate the gene. Highfrequency of transposon excision from the Su locus producedvariegated sectors. Plants regenerated from the variegated sectorexhibited a similar variegated phenotype. Genetic analyses showedthat the variegation was always associated with the transposaseconstruct and the transposon was linked to the Su locus. Sequencessurrounding the transposon were isolated, and five revertantsectors possessed typical direct repeats following Ds excisions.These genetic and molecular data are consistent with the taggingof the Su allele by the transposon.