Abstract
Efficient methods for DNA excision are needed for removing selectable marker genes from transgenic plants. The present work evaluated the enhanced FLP recombinase, FLPe, for excising FLP recombination target (FRT)-flanked marker genes, and generating marker-free rice lines. Previously, the transient FLPe activity was found to be at least threefold higher on the transgene locus compared to that of FLPwt, the wild-type FLP recombinase. In this study, transgenic plants expressing FLPe were cross-pollinated with the plants harboring FRT site to analyze marker excision in F1 plants, and the transmission of marker-free locus to F2 progeny. The FLPe activity, expressed by the strong promoter (maize ubiquitin-1 gene), efficiently excised FRT-flanked marker gene in rice plants. However, marker excision in F2 progeny was tightly linked with the presence of FLPe gene, suggesting insufficient recombination in the gametophyte. The maize ubiquitin-1 promoter is reportedly active in gametophytic tissue and effective in meiotic transmission of the marker-free locus generated by Cre–lox recombination. Therefore, the observed lack of meiotic transmission in this study is possibly due to the limited efficiency of FLPe recombinase. While the reason for the FLPe inefficiency in the gametophyte is not clear, this work highlights the constraints of FLPe recombinase in generating stable marker-free plant lines through cross-pollination or gene induction methods.
References
Akbudak MA, Srivastava V (2011) Improved FLP recombinase, FLPe, efficiently removes marker gene from transgene locus developed by Cre–lox mediated site-specific gene integration in rice. Mol Biotechnol 49:82–89
Bala A, Roy A, Das A, Chakraborti D, Das S (2013) Development of selectable marker free, insect resistant, transgenic mustard (Brassica juncea) plants using Cre–lox mediated recombination. BMC Biotechnol 13:88
Bar M, Leshem B, Gilboa N, Gidoni D (1996) Visual characterization of recombination at FRT-gusA loci in transgenic tobacco mediated by constitutive expression of the native FLP recombinase. Theor Appl Genet 93:407–413
Buchholz F, Ringrose L, Angrand PO, Rossi F, Stewart AF (1996) Different thermostabilities of FLP and Cre recombinases: implications for applied site-specific recombination. Nucleic Acids Res 24:4256–4262
Buchholz F, Angrand PO, Stewart AF (1998) Improved properties of FLP recombinase evolved by cycling mutagenesis. Nat Biotechnol 16:657–662
Chong-Pérez B, Reyes M, Rojas L, Ocaña B, Ramos A, Kosky RG, Angenon G (2013) Excision of a selectable marker gene in transgenic banana using a Cre–lox system controlled by an embryo specific promoter. Plant Mol Biol 83:143–152
Dale EC, Ow DW (1991) Gene transfer with subsequent removal of the selection gene from the host genome. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88:10558–10562
Darbani B, Eimanifar A, Stewart CN Jr, Camargo WN (2007) Methods to produce marker-free transgenic plants. Biotechnol J 2:83–90
Davies GJ, Kilby NJ, Riou-Khamlichi C, Murray JAM (1999) Somatic and germinal inheritance of an FLP-mediated deletion in transgenic tobacco. J Exp Bot 338:1447–1456
Eudes A, Mouille G, Thévenin J, Goyallon A, Minic Z, Jouanin L (2008) Purification, cloning and functional characterization of an endogenous beta-glucuronidase in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Physiol 49:1331–1341
Gidoni D, Bar M, Gilboa N (2001) FLP/FRT-mediated restoration of normal phenotypes and clonal sectors formation in rolC transgenic tobacco. Transg Res 10:317–328
Gidoni D, Srivastava V, Carmi N (2008) Site-specific excisional recombination strategies for elimination of undesirable transgenes from crop plants. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Plant 44:457–467
Gilbertson L (2003) Cre–lox recombination: creative tools for plant biotechnology. Trends Biotechnol 21:550–555
Hoa TT, Bong BB, Huq E, Hodges TK (2002) Cre–lox site-specific recombination controls the excision of a transgene from the rice genome. Theor Appl Genet 104:518–525
Hu Q, Kononowicz-Hodges H, Nelson-Vasilchik K, Viola D, Zeng P, Liu H, Kausch AP, Chandlee JM, Hodges TK, Luo H (2008) FLP recombinase-mediated site-specific recombination in rice. Plant Biotechnol J 6:176–188
Jefferson RA (1987) Assaying chimeric genes in plants: GUS gene fusion system. Plant Mol Biol Rep 5:387–405
Kerbach S, Lörz H, Becker D (2005) Site-specific recombination in Zea mays. Theor Appl Genet 111:1608–1616
Khattri A (2006) Evaluation of inducible FLP–FRT and Cre–lox systems for marker gene deletion in rice. MS thesis, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Khattri A, Nandy S, Srivastava V (2011) Heat-inducible Cre–lox system for marker excision in transgenic rice. J Biosci 36:37–42
Kilby NJ, Davies GJ, Snaith MR (1995) FLP recombinase in transgenic plants: constitutive activity in stably transformed tobacco and generation of marked cell clones in Arabidopsis. Plant J 8:637–652
Kondo S, Takata Y, Nakano M, Saito I, Kanegae Y (2009) Activities of various FLP recombinases expressed by adenovirus vectors in mammalian cells. J Mol Biol 390:221–230
Krohn NG, Lausser A, Juranić M, Dresselhaus T (2012) Egg cell signaling by the secreted peptide ZmEAL1 controls antipodal cell fate. Dev Cell 23:219–225
Lemaux PG (2008) Genetically engineered plants and foods: a scientist’s analysis of the issues (part I). Annu Rev Plant Biol 59:771–812
Li B, Li N, Duan X, Wei A, Yang A, Zhang J (2010) Generation of marker-free transgenic maize with improved salt tolerance using the FLP–FRT recombination system. J Biotechnol 145:206–213
Liu W, Yuan JS, Stewart CN Jr (2013) Advanced genetic tools for plant biotechnology. Nat Rev Genet 14:781–793
Livak KJ, Schmittgen TD (2001) Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the 2(T)(-Delta Delta C(T)) method. Methods 25:402–408
Lloyd AM, Davis RW (1994) Functional expression of the yeast FLP–FRT site-specific recombination system in Nicotiana tabacum. Mol Gen Genet 242:653–657
Luo K, Duan H, Zhao D, Zheng X, Deng W, Chen Y, Stewart CN Jr, McAvoy R, Jiang X, Wu Y, He A, Pei Y, Li Y (2007) ‘GM-gene-deletor’: fused loxP–FRT recognition sequences dramatically improve the efficiency of FLP or CRE recombinase on transgene excision from pollen and seed of tobacco plants. Plant Biotechnol J 5:263–274
Lyznik LA, Mitchell JC, Hirayama L, Hodges TK (1993) Activity of yeast FLP recombinase in maize and rice protoplasts. Nucleic Acids Res 21:969–975
Moore S, Srivastava V (2006) Efficient deletion of transgenic DNA from complex integration locus of rice mediated by Cre–lox recombination system. Crop Sci 46:700–705
Mlynárová L, Conner A, Nap JP (2006) Directed microspore-specific recombination of transgenic alleles to prevent pollen-mediated transmission of transgenes. Plant Biotechnol J 4:445–452
Nandy S, Srivastava V (2011) Site-specific gene integration in rice genome mediated by the FLP–FRT recombination system. Plant Biotechnol J 9:713–721
Nandy S, Srivastava V (2012) Marker-free site-specific gene integration in rice based on the use of two recombination systems. Plant Biotechnol J 10:904–912
O’Gorman S, Fox DT, Wahl GM (1991) Recombinase-mediated gene activation and site-specific integration in mammalian cells. Science 251:1351–1355
Ow DW (2002) Recombinase-directed plant transformation for the post-genomic era. Plant Mol Biol 48:183–200
Radhakrishnan P, Srivastava V (2005) Utility of the FLP–FRT recombination system for genetic manipulation of rice. Plant Cell Rep 23:721–726
Raymond CS, Soriano P (2007) High-efficiency FLP and PhiC31 site-specific recombination in mammalian cells. PLoS ONE 2(1):e162
Russell SH, Hoopes JL, Odell JT (1992) Directed excision of a transgene from the plant genome. Mol Gen Genet 234:49–59
Schreiber DN, Dresselhaus T (2003) In vitro pollen germination and transient transformation of Zea mays and other plant species. Plant Mol Biol Rep 21:31–41
Sengupta S, Chakraborti D, Mondal HA, Das S (2010) Selectable antibiotic resistance marker gene-free transgenic rice harbouring the garlic leaf lectin gene exhibits resistance to sap-sucking plant hoppers. Plant Cell Rep 29:261–271
Sonti RV, Tissier AF, Wong D, Viret JF, Signer ER (1995) Activity of the yeast FLP recombinase in Arabidopsis. Plant Mol Biol 28:1127–1133
Sreekala C, Wu L, Gu K, Wang D, Tian D, Yin Z (2005) Excision of a selectable marker in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) using a chemically regulated Cre–loxP system. Plant Cell Rep 24:86–94
Srilunchang KO, Krohn NG, Dresselhaus T (2010) DiSUMO-like DSUL is required for nuclei positioning, cell specification and viability during female gametophyte maturation in maize. Development 137:333–345
Srivastava V, Anderson OD, Ow DW (1999) Single-copy transgenic wheat generated through the resolution of complex integration patterns. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96:11117–11121
Srivastava V, Akbudak MA, Nandy S (2011) Marker-free plant transformation. In: Dan Y, Ow DW (eds) Historical technology developments in plant transformation. Bentham eBooks, China, pp 108–122
Takata Y, Kondo S, Goda N, Kanegae Y, Saito I (2011) Comparison of efficiency between FLPe and Cre for recombinase-mediated cassette exchange in vitro and in adenovirus vector production. Genes Cells 16:765–777
Wang Y, Yau YY, Perkins-Balding D, Thomson JG (2011) Recombinase technology: applications and possibilities. Plant Cell Rep 30:267–285
Xu ZQ, Jia JF, Hao JG, Wang YJ, Feng SZ (2002) Expression activity of maize Ubi-1 promoter in fertile transgenic maize plants. Shi Yan Sheng Wu Xue Bao 35:296–302 (abstract)
Yau YY, Stewart CN Jr (2013) Less is more: strategies to remove marker genes from transgenic plants. BMC Biotechnol 13:36
Zhang W, Subbarao S, Addae P, Shen A, Armstrong C, Peschke V, Gilbertson L (2003) Cre–lox-mediated marker gene excision in transgenic maize (Zea mays L.) plants. Theor Appl Genet 107:1157–1168
Acknowledgments
This project is supported by the Biotechnology Risk Assessment Program Competitive Grant #2010-33522-21715 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nguyen, L.D., Underwood, J.L., Nandy, S. et al. Strong activity of FLPe recombinase in rice plants does not correlate with the transmission of the recombined locus to the progeny. Plant Biotechnol Rep 8, 455–462 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-014-0332-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-014-0332-5