Figure 3.

Transgenic Maize Expressing ZmTLA1 Antisense Transcripts Displayed a Variety of Phenotypes, Including Dwarfism, tla, and Male and Female Sterility.

(A) Expression levels of ZmTLA1 sense (Sx; blue) and antisense transgenes (Ax; black) in leaves of T0 generation plants. Lower-case letters indicate clonal lines.

(B) Relative expression levels in leaves of T2 progeny plants originating from three strongly expressing T0 antisense plants (A3, A4, and A7c).

(C) Five-week-old dwarf T2 transgenic antisense plants (plants A6b-7-2 and A6b-7-3) compared with a wild-type plant (A188) of the same age.

(D) Antisense T2 transgenic plant (A7c-7-4) at anthesis. The plant was small (45 cm) and showed transparent stripes (arrows) and transparent spots (arrowhead). The tassel was fertile, but a cob did not develop.

(E) Transparent leaf areas appeared at the seedling stage primarily on secondary leaves and remained unchanged until senescence (plant A5b-6-2).

(F) Enlargement of transparent leaf spots of plant A4-7-2. Transparent regions were clear and lacked signs of necrosis.

(G) Fertility of the T2 A2-6-1 plant lacking antisense transgene expression (left) compared with T2 A3-3-1 expressing relatively high antisense transcript amounts (right).

(H) Anthers of the T2 antisense plant A4-7-1 were partly immature but contained pollen grains (8 d after anthesis) compared with a wild-type anther 5 d after anthesis (arrow). The arrow also points toward an open pore at the wild-type anther tip through which the pollen escaped.