Matrix-associated regions may be useful for studying the role of chromatin architecture in transgene activity of transformed plants. The chicken lysozyme A element was shown to have specific affinity for tobacco nuclear matrices, and its influence on the variability of transgene expression in tobacco plants was studied. T-DNA constructs in which this element flanked either the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene or both reporter and selection gene were introduced in tobacco. The variation in GUS gene activity was reduced significantly among mature first-generation transgenic plants carrying the A element. Average GUS activity became somewhat higher, but the maximum attainable level of gene expression was similar for all three constructs. Transient gene expression assays showed that the A element did not contain general enhancer functions; therefore, its presence seemed to prevent the lower levels of transgene expression. The strongest reduction in variability was found in plants transformed with the construct carrying the A elements at the borders of the T-DNA. In this population, expression levels became copy number dependent. The presence of two A elements in the T-DNA did not interfere with meiosis.
CITATION STYLE
Mlynárová, Ľ., Loonen, A., Heldens, J., Jansen, R. C., Keizer, P., Stiekema, W. J., & Nap, J. P. (1994). Reduced position effect in mature transgenic plants conferred by the chicken lysozyme matrix-associated region. Plant Cell, 6(3), 417–426. https://doi.org/10.2307/3869761
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