The presence of a chromatin boundary appears to shield a transgene in tobacco from RNA silencing

Abstract

We present isogenic transgenic tobacco lines that carry at a given chromosomal position a β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene either with or without the presence of the matrix-associated region known as the chicken lysozyme A element. Plants were generated with the Cre-lox site-specific recombination system using heterospecific lox sites. Analysis of GUS gene expression in plant populations demonstrates that the presence of the A element can shield against RNA silencing of the GUS gene. Protection was observed in two of three independent tobacco transformants. Plants carrying an A element 5′ of the GUS gene always had stable GUS activity, but upon removal of this A element, the GUS gene became silenced over time in two lines, notably when homozygous.