The Research of Bt and OC Gene Cotransformation in Tobacco Chloroplast

The Bt Cry IA (C) chloroplast expression cassette and OC chloroplast expression cassette were constructed. The Bt expression cassette contained the 3.5 kb wild type Bt Cry I4(C) gene under the control of the strong light-induced psbA promoter and terminator from rice (Oryza saliva . L) chloroplast, the gene: trnH-psbA-trnk from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum. L) as the homologous fragment. The OC chloroplast expression cassette contained the OC gene under the control of 16S promoter and terminator from tobacco, the tobacco gene: psbA-ORF512 as homologous fragment. The two cassettes both had the aadA gene expression cassette as the selectable marker. Leaves of tobacco were cotransformed with the particle bombardment method. After selection by spectinomycin, the transformants were obtained. The integration of Bt and OC gene were confirmed by Southern-blotting analysis, and Western-blotting analysis. Proteinase inhibitor assays showed that the Bt and OC gene had expressed. Bioassays showed that the transgenic tobacco had a significant resistance to the larvae of cotton bollworm (helicoverpa zea).

Research Progress of Sugarcane Chloroplast Genome

Along with the development of modern molecular biology technologies, complete chloroplast genomes have been sequenced in various plant species to date, and the structure, function and expression of these genes have been deter-mined. The chloroplast genome structure in most higher plants is stable, since the gene number, arrangement and composition are conservative. The determination of sugarcane chloroplast genome sequence laid a good foundation for sugarcane chloroplast related research. This article gives a review on the research progress of sugarcane chloroplast genome through the chloroplast genome map, gene structure, function, chloroplast RNA editing, and phylogenetic analysis in Saccharum and relat-ed genera. This study held great potential to clarify more directions in researches, including sugarcane chloroplast genetic transformation, complete chloroplast nu-cleotide sequence determination in Saccharum and closely related genera, cpSSRs development and application.

Establishment of a Gene Expression System in Rice Chloroplast and Obtainment of PPT-Resistant Rice Plants

In contrast to the situation of random integration of foreign genes in nuclear transformation, the introduction of genes via chloroplast genetic engineering is characterized by site-specific pattern via homologous recombination. To establish an expression system for alien genes in rice chloroplast, the intergenic region of ndhF and trnL was selected as target for sitespecific integration of PPT-resistant bar gene in this study. Two DNA fragments suitable for homologous recombination were cloned from rice chloroplast genome DNA using PCR technique, and the chloroplast-specific expression vector pRB was constructed by fusing a modified 16S rRNA gene promoter to bar gene together with terminator ofpsbA gene 3 sequence. Chloroplast transformation was carried out by biolistic bombardment of sterile rice calli with the pRB construct. Subsequently, the regenerated plantlets and seeds of progeny arising from reciprocal cross to the wild-type lines were obtained. Molecular analysis suggested that the bar gene has been integrated into rice chloroplast genome. Genetic analysis revealed that bar gene could be transmitted and expressed normally in chloroplast genome. Thus, the bar gene conferred not only selection pressure for the transformation of rice chloroplast genome, but PPT-resistant trait for rice plants as well. It is suggested that an efficient gene expression system in the rice chloroplast has been established by chloroplast transformation technique.

Advances in chloroplast engineering

The chloroplast is a pivotal organelle in plant cells and eukaryotic algae to carry out photosynthesis, which provides the primary source of the world＇s food. The expression of foreign genes in chloroplasts offers several advantages over their expression in the nucleus： high-level expression, transgene stacking in operons and a lack of epigenetic interference allowing stable transgene expression. In addition, transgenic chloroplasts are generally not transmitted through pollen grains because of the cytoplasmic localization. In the past two decades, great progress in chloroplast engineering has been made. In this paper, we review and highlight recent studies of chloroplast engineering, including chloroplast transformation procedures, controlled expression of plastid transgenes in plants, the expression of foreign genes for improvement of plant traits, the production of biopharmaceuticals, metabolic pathway engineering in plants, plastid transformation to study RNA editing, and marker gene excision system.

Mutation of Residue Arginine^18 of Cytochrome b559 α-Subunit and its Effects on Photosystem Ⅱ Activities in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

It has been known that arginine is used as the basic amino acid in the α-subunit of cytochrome bsss （Cyt bsss） except histidine. However, previous studies have focused on the function of histidine in the activities of photosystem （PS） Ⅱ and there are no reports regarding the structural and/or functional roles of arginine in PSll complexes. In the present study, two arginine18 （R18） mutants of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were constructed using site-directed mutagenesis, in which R18 was replaced by glutamic acid （E） and glycine （G）. The results show that the oxygen evolution of the PSII complex in the R18G and R18E mutants was approximately 60% of wild-type （WT） levels and that, after irradiation at high light intensity, oxygen evolution for the PSll of mutants was reduced to zero compared with 40% in WT cells. The efficiency of light capture by PSll （Fv/Fm） of R18G and R18E mutants was approximately 42%-46% that of WT cells. Furthermore, levels of the α-subunit of Cyt bsss and PsbO proteins were reduced in thylakoid membranes compared with WT. Overall, these data suggest that R18 plays a significant role in helping Cyt bss9 maintain the structure of the PSll complex and its activity, although it is not directly bound to the heme group.