Antibiotic Resistant Gene Deletion in Transgenic Tobacco

Most of the commercial transgenic plants contain not only the novel traits, but also the antibiotic resistant genes which allow researchers screen the transgenic events under the antibiotic condition. Those antibiotic resistant genes also called selectable marker genes. Antibiotic resistant genes from the transgenic plants also raises public concerns about the safety issues of the genetically modified organism.

This project seeks to develop a more powerful seed-based system for plant biotechnology research using two novel recombinases, ParA and CinH. We used seed specific promoter to target the recombinase based deletion in seeds. We have carried out this research on transgenic tobacco plants.  The aim of the research described is to develop transgenic plant without unwanted antibiotic resistance gene in seeds. We succussfully developed suitable plant transformation vectors for ParA and CinH respectively and generated transgenic tobacco plants with the plant expression vectors. We are currently characterizing the antibiotic (Kanamycin) resistant gene deletion efficiency in plant seeds.

This project was partially supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health through Grant Number 8P20GM103447.