Skip to main content
NCBI home page
The Plant Cell logoLink to The Plant Cell
. 1998 Mar;10(3):427–434. doi: 10.1105/tpc.10.3.427

The transposition frequency of Tag1 elements is increased in transgenic Arabidopsis lines.

A M Bhatt 1, C Lister 1, N Crawford 1, C Dean 1
PMCID: PMC143992  PMID: 9501115

Abstract

Tag1 was identified as a highly active endogenous transposable element in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana Landsberg erecta plants carrying the maize transposable element Activator (Ac). Here, we describe experiments designed to determine the basis for the high activity of Tag1. The frequency of transposition of Tag1 elements was compared in lines containing or lacking Ac transposase to assess the effect of Ac transposase on Tag1 activity. Three populations of nontransgenic plants, including nontransformed regenerants, were also analyzed. The high level of activity of Tag1 did not correlate with the presence or absence of Ac transposase but was significantly higher in transgenic lines. This result was maintained through at least six generations after transformation. These data suggest that Tag1 transposition is stimulated by processes that occur during the Agrobacterium transformation and that thereafter remain active. Two Tag1 elements are tightly linked in the Landsberg erecta genome and map to the lower arm of chromosome 1. Tag1 elements were found in only a few A. thaliana ecotypes but were present in four other Arabidopsis species.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (159.6 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aida M., Ishida T., Fukaki H., Fujisawa H., Tasaka M. Genes involved in organ separation in Arabidopsis: an analysis of the cup-shaped cotyledon mutant. Plant Cell. 1997 Jun;9(6):841–857. doi: 10.1105/tpc.9.6.841. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bancroft I., Bhatt A. M., Sjodin C., Scofield S., Jones J. D., Dean C. Development of an efficient two-element transposon tagging system in Arabidopsis thaliana. Mol Gen Genet. 1992 Jun;233(3):449–461. doi: 10.1007/BF00265443. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dellaporta S. L., Chomet P. S., Mottinger J. P., Wood J. A., Yu S. M., Hicks J. B. Endogenous transposable elements associated with virus infection in maize. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1984;49:321–328. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1984.049.01.038. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Fedoroff N. V., Smith D. L. A versatile system for detecting transposition in Arabidopsis. Plant J. 1993 Feb;3(2):273–289. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-313x.1993.tb00178.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Fedoroff N., Wessler S., Shure M. Isolation of the transposable maize controlling elements Ac and Ds. Cell. 1983 Nov;35(1):235–242. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90226-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Frank M. J., Liu D., Tsay Y. F., Ustach C., Crawford N. M. Tag1 is an autonomous transposable element that shows somatic excision in both Arabidopsis and tobacco. Plant Cell. 1997 Oct;9(10):1745–1756. doi: 10.1105/tpc.9.10.1745. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Gallie D. R., Sleat D. E., Watts J. W., Turner P. C., Wilson T. M. The 5'-leader sequence of tobacco mosaic virus RNA enhances the expression of foreign gene transcripts in vitro and in vivo. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Apr 24;15(8):3257–3273. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.8.3257. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hirochika H. Activation of tobacco retrotransposons during tissue culture. EMBO J. 1993 Jun;12(6):2521–2528. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05907.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Koncz C., Martini N., Mayerhofer R., Koncz-Kalman Z., Körber H., Redei G. P., Schell J. High-frequency T-DNA-mediated gene tagging in plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Nov;86(21):8467–8471. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.21.8467. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Konieczny A., Voytas D. F., Cummings M. P., Ausubel F. M. A superfamily of Arabidopsis thaliana retrotransposons. Genetics. 1991 Apr;127(4):801–809. doi: 10.1093/genetics/127.4.801. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Lander E. S., Green P., Abrahamson J., Barlow A., Daly M. J., Lincoln S. E., Newberg L. A., Newburg L. MAPMAKER: an interactive computer package for constructing primary genetic linkage maps of experimental and natural populations. Genomics. 1987 Oct;1(2):174–181. doi: 10.1016/0888-7543(87)90010-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Lawson E. J., Scofield S. R., Sjodin C., Jones J. D., Dean C. Modification of the 5' untranslated leader region of the maize Activator element leads to increased activity in Arabidopsis. Mol Gen Genet. 1994 Dec 1;245(5):608–615. doi: 10.1007/BF00282223. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Macknight R., Bancroft I., Page T., Lister C., Schmidt R., Love K., Westphal L., Murphy G., Sherson S., Cobbett C. FCA, a gene controlling flowering time in Arabidopsis, encodes a protein containing RNA-binding domains. Cell. 1997 May 30;89(5):737–745. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80256-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Peleman J., Cottyn B., Van Camp W., Van Montagu M., Inzé D. Transient occurrence of extrachromosomal DNA of an Arabidopsis thaliana transposon-like element, Tat1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 May 1;88(9):3618–3622. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.9.3618. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Peschke V. M., Phillips R. L., Gengenbach B. G. Discovery of transposable element activity among progeny of tissue culture--derived maize plants. Science. 1987 Nov 6;238(4828):804–807. doi: 10.1126/science.238.4828.804. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Pélissier T., Tutois S., Deragon J. M., Tourmente S., Genestier S., Picard G. Athila, a new retroelement from Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Mol Biol. 1995 Nov;29(3):441–452. doi: 10.1007/BF00020976. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Sundaresan V., Springer P., Volpe T., Haward S., Jones J. D., Dean C., Ma H., Martienssen R. Patterns of gene action in plant development revealed by enhancer trap and gene trap transposable elements. Genes Dev. 1995 Jul 15;9(14):1797–1810. doi: 10.1101/gad.9.14.1797. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Swinburne J., Balcells L., Scofield S. R., Jones J. D., Coupland G. Elevated levels of Activator transposase mRNA are associated with high frequencies of Dissociation excision in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell. 1992 May;4(5):583–595. doi: 10.1105/tpc.4.5.583. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Tsay Y. F., Frank M. J., Page T., Dean C., Crawford N. M. Identification of a mobile endogenous transposon in Arabidopsis thaliana. Science. 1993 Apr 16;260(5106):342–344. doi: 10.1126/science.8385803. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Tsay Y. F., Schroeder J. I., Feldmann K. A., Crawford N. M. The herbicide sensitivity gene CHL1 of Arabidopsis encodes a nitrate-inducible nitrate transporter. Cell. 1993 Mar 12;72(5):705–713. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90399-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Valvekens D., Van Montagu M., Van Lijsebettens M. Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of Arabidopsis thaliana root explants by using kanamycin selection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Aug;85(15):5536–5540. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.15.5536. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Velten J., Velten L., Hain R., Schell J. Isolation of a dual plant promoter fragment from the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. EMBO J. 1984 Dec 1;3(12):2723–2730. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb02202.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Voytas D. F., Ausubel F. M. A copia-like transposable element family in Arabidopsis thaliana. Nature. 1988 Nov 17;336(6196):242–244. doi: 10.1038/336242a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Voytas D. F., Konieczny A., Cummings M. P., Ausubel F. M. The structure, distribution and evolution of the Ta1 retrotransposable element family of Arabidopsis thaliana. Genetics. 1990 Nov;126(3):713–721. doi: 10.1093/genetics/126.3.713. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Walbot V. Reactivation of Mutator transposable elements of maize by ultraviolet light. Mol Gen Genet. 1992 Sep;234(3):353–360. doi: 10.1007/BF00538694. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Warren W. D., Atkinson P. W., O'Brochta D. A. The Hermes transposable element from the house fly, Musca domestica, is a short inverted repeat-type element of the hobo, Ac, and Tam3 (hAT) element family. Genet Res. 1994 Oct;64(2):87–97. doi: 10.1017/s0016672300032699. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Plant Cell are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES