scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

GUS fusions: beta‐glucuronidase as a sensitive and versatile gene fusion marker in higher plants.

20 Dec 1987-The EMBO Journal (European Molecular Biology Organization)-Vol. 6, Iss: 13, pp 3901-3907
TL;DR: GUS is very stable, and tissue extracts continue to show high levels of GUS activity after prolonged storage, and Histochemical analysis has been used to demonstrate the localization of gene activity in cells and tissues of transformed plants.
Abstract: We have used the Escherichia coli beta-glucuronidase gene (GUS) as a gene fusion marker for analysis of gene expression in transformed plants. Higher plants tested lack intrinsic beta-glucuronidase activity, thus enhancing the sensitivity with which measurements can be made. We have constructed gene fusions using the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter or the promoter from a gene encoding the small subunit of ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase (rbcS) to direct the expression of beta-glucuronidase in transformed plants. Expression of GUS can be measured accurately using fluorometric assays of very small amounts of transformed plant tissue. Plants expressing GUS are normal, healthy and fertile. GUS is very stable, and tissue extracts continue to show high levels of GUS activity after prolonged storage. Histochemical analysis has been used to demonstrate the localization of gene activity in cells and tissues of transformed plants.

Content maybe subject to copyright    Report

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Gene fusions can be defined its DNA constructions that result in the coding sequences from one gene (r@o,ter) being transcribed and/or translated under the direction of the controlling sequences of another gene (cmltrr).
Abstract: DeJi~eitio, r Ge~e lrlt.~irm Much of tile attention and interest in modern molecular biology is fi~cussed on the regulation of gene expression. Factors influencing or mediating such regulation are often best studied using gene Alsions. Gene fusions can be defined its DNA constructions (perfi3rmed ill vitro or i~e Hvo) that result in the coding sequences from one gene (r@o,ter) being transcribed and/or translated under the direction of the controlling sequences of another gene (cmltrr Gene fusions can be of two general types, with many wtriatiuns within types. Transcriptional fusions are defined as fusions in which all protein coding sequences are derived from the reporter, with none from the cmm,//e~. Thus, although the m R N A produced may consist of sequences from both control/o and re/;o~ter, the protein synthesized will be encoded only by the reporter. Translational fusions, in contrast, are defined as those in which the polypeptide produced is the result of coding information provided by both copraoiler and reporter.

4,518 citations


Cites background from "GUS fusions: beta‐glucuronidase as ..."

  • ...459-468), Dico,ostelium discoidllm (R. Firtel, pers. comm, quoted in Jefferson et al., 1986) or in almost any higher plant (Jefferson et al., 1987b), including tobacco, petunia, potato, tomato, Bras.6ca, maize, soybean, wheat, rice, barley, or Arahidopss The enzyme can tolerate large…...

    [...]

  • ...The beta-glucuronidase gene has been chined and sequenced, and encodes a stable enzyme that has desirable properties fi)r the construction and analysis o fgene fusions(Jefferson, 1985;Jefferson et al., 1986a; Jefferson et al., 1987a; Jefferson c ta l ....

    [...]

  • ...…the regulation of numerous genes in transgenic tobacco and potato, including CaMV35S promoter, ribulose bisphosphate, carboxylase small subunit, (Jefferson et al., 1987), chlorophyll a/b binding protein (Jefferson, Harkins, Bevan, Kavanagh and Bevan, submitted; Kavanagh, Jefferson and Bevan, in…...

    [...]

  • ..., 1987b; Jefferson et al., 1987c)....

    [...]

  • ...There is little or no detectable betaglucuronidase activity in Saccharomyces cerez,isiae, Dros,phi/~1 melalzogaster embryos, larvae and pupae (adults were not tested), certain strains of Caenorhahditis elegans (Jefferson et al., 1987a; Sebastiano et al., 1986, Ge~zetks....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A Gateway-compatible Agrobacterium sp.
Abstract: The current challenge, now that two plant genomes have been sequenced, is to assign a function to the increasing number of predicted genes. In Arabidopsis, approximately 55% of genes can be assigned a putative function, however, less than 8% of these have been assigned a function by direct experimental evidence. To identify these functions, many genes will have to undergo comprehensive analyses, which will include the production of chimeric transgenes for constitutive or inducible ectopic expression, for antisense or dominant negative expression, for subcellular localization studies, for promoter analysis, and for gene complementation studies. The production of such transgenes is often hampered by laborious conventional cloning technology that relies on restriction digestion and ligation. With the aim of providing tools for high throughput gene analysis, we have produced a Gateway-compatible Agrobacterium sp. binary vector system that facilitates fast and reliable DNA cloning. This collection of vectors is freely available, for noncommercial purposes, and can be used for the ectopic expression of genes either constitutively or inducibly. The vectors can be used for the expression of protein fusions to the Aequorea victoria green fluorescent protein and to the β-glucuronidase protein so that the subcellular localization of a protein can be identified. They can also be used to generate promoter-reporter constructs and to facilitate efficient cloning of genomic DNA fragments for complementation experiments. All vectors were derived from pCambia T-DNA cloning vectors, with the exception of a chemically inducible vector, for Agrobacterium sp.-mediated transformation of a wide range of plant species.

2,490 citations


Cites background from "GUS fusions: beta‐glucuronidase as ..."

  • ...This capability is not available in the currently described plant Gateway vectors (Karimi et al., 2002), nor is the facility to induce gene expression....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
19 May 2006-Cell
TL;DR: It is shown that flagellin and EF-Tu activate a common set of signaling events and defense responses but without clear synergistic effects, and that plant defense responses induced by PAMPs such as EF- Tu reduce transformation by Agrobacterium.

1,758 citations


Cites methods from "GUS fusions: beta‐glucuronidase as ..."

  • ...Qualitative and quantitative measurements for GUS activity were performed according to Jefferson et al. (1987)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined design rules for efficient gene silencing, in terms of both the proportion of independent transgenic plants showing silencing and the degree of silencing.
Abstract: Post-transcriptional silencing of plant genes using anti-sense or co-suppression constructs usually results in only a modest proportion of silenced individuals. Recent work has demonstrated the potential for constructs encoding self-complementary 'hairpin' RNA (hpRNA) to efficiently silence genes. In this study we examine design rules for efficient gene silencing, in terms of both the proportion of independent transgenic plants showing silencing, and the degree of silencing. Using hpRNA constructs containing sense/anti-sense arms ranging from 98 to 853 nt gave efficient silencing in a wide range of plant species, and inclusion of an intron in these constructs had a consistently enhancing effect. Intron-containing constructs (ihpRNA) generally gave 90-100% of independent transgenic plants showing silencing. The degree of silencing with these constructs was much greater than that obtained using either co-suppression or anti-sense constructs. We have made a generic vector, pHANNIBAL, that allows a simple, single PCR product from a gene of interest to be easily converted into a highly effective ihpRNA silencing construct. We have also created a high-throughput vector, pHELLSGATE, that should facilitate the cloning of gene libraries or large numbers of defined genes, such as those in EST collections, using an in vitro recombinase system. This system may facilitate the large-scale determination and discovery of plant gene functions in the same way as RNAi is being used to examine gene function in Caenorhabditis elegans.

1,642 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The newpPZP Agrobacterium binary vectors are versatile, relatively small, stable and fully sequenced, allowing their use inAgrobacteria strains with different drug resistance markers.
Abstract: The newpPZP Agrobacterium binary vectors are versatile, relatively small, stable and are fully sequenced. The vectors utilize the pTiT37 T-DNA border regions, the pBR322bom site for mobilization fromEscherichia coli toAgrobacterium, and the ColE1 and pVS1 plasmid origins for replication inE. coli and inAgrobacterium, respectively. Bacterial marker genes in the vectors confer resistance to chloramphenicol (pPZP100 series) or spectinomycin (pPZP200 series), allowing their use inAgrobacterium strains with different drug resistance markers. Plant marker genes in the binary vectors confer resistance to kanamycin or to gentamycin, and are adjacent to the left border (LB) of the transferred region. A lacZ α-peptide, with the pUC18 multiple cloning site (MCS), lies between the plant marker gene and the right border (RB). Since the RB is transferred first, drug resistance is obtained only if the passenger gene is present in the transgenic plants.

1,589 citations


Cites methods from "GUS fusions: beta‐glucuronidase as ..."

  • ...The most widely used binary vectors are BIN 19 [3] and its derivatives, the pBI series [24], and binary vectors pGA482 and pGA492 [1]....

    [...]

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This assay is very reproducible and rapid with the dye binding process virtually complete in approximately 2 min with good color stability for 1 hr with little or no interference from cations such as sodium or potassium nor from carbohydrates such as sucrose.

225,085 citations

Book
15 Jan 2001
TL;DR: Molecular Cloning has served as the foundation of technical expertise in labs worldwide for 30 years as mentioned in this paper and has been so popular, or so influential, that no other manual has been more widely used and influential.
Abstract: Molecular Cloning has served as the foundation of technical expertise in labs worldwide for 30 years. No other manual has been so popular, or so influential. Molecular Cloning, Fourth Edition, by the celebrated founding author Joe Sambrook and new co-author, the distinguished HHMI investigator Michael Green, preserves the highly praised detail and clarity of previous editions and includes specific chapters and protocols commissioned for the book from expert practitioners at Yale, U Mass, Rockefeller University, Texas Tech, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Washington University, and other leading institutions. The theoretical and historical underpinnings of techniques are prominent features of the presentation throughout, information that does much to help trouble-shoot experimental problems. For the fourth edition of this classic work, the content has been entirely recast to include nucleic-acid based methods selected as the most widely used and valuable in molecular and cellular biology laboratories. Core chapters from the third edition have been revised to feature current strategies and approaches to the preparation and cloning of nucleic acids, gene transfer, and expression analysis. They are augmented by 12 new chapters which show how DNA, RNA, and proteins should be prepared, evaluated, and manipulated, and how data generation and analysis can be handled. The new content includes methods for studying interactions between cellular components, such as microarrays, next-generation sequencing technologies, RNA interference, and epigenetic analysis using DNA methylation techniques and chromatin immunoprecipitation. To make sense of the wealth of data produced by these techniques, a bioinformatics chapter describes the use of analytical tools for comparing sequences of genes and proteins and identifying common expression patterns among sets of genes. Building on thirty years of trust, reliability, and authority, the fourth edition of Mol

215,169 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A technique for conveniently radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity is described, and these "oligolabeled" DNA fragments serve as efficient probes in filter hybridization experiments.

23,324 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A series of recombinant genomes which directed expression of the enzyme chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) in mammalian cells provided a uniquely convenient system for monitoring the expression of foreign DNAs in tissue culture cells.
Abstract: We constructed a series of recombinant genomes which directed expression of the enzyme chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) in mammalian cells. The prototype recombinant in this series, pSV2-cat, consisted of the beta-lactamase gene and origin of replication from pBR322 coupled to a simian virus 40 (SV40) early transcription region into which CAT coding sequences were inserted. Readily measured levels of CAT accumulated within 48 h after the introduction of pSV2-cat DNA into African green monkey kidney CV-1 cells. Because endogenous CAT activity is not present in CV-1 or other mammalian cells, and because rapid, sensitive assays for CAT activity are available, these recombinants provided a uniquely convenient system for monitoring the expression of foreign DNAs in tissue culture cells. To demonstrate the usefulness of this system, we constructed derivatives of pSV2-cat from which part or all of the SV40 promoter region was removed. Deletion of one copy of the 72-base-pair repeat sequence in the SV40 promoter caused no significant decrease in CAT synthesis in monkey kidney CV-1 cells; however, an additional deletion of 50 base pairs from the second copy of the repeats reduced CAT synthesis to 11% of its level in the wild type. We also constructed a recombinant, pSV0-cat, in which the entire SV40 promoter region was removed and a unique HindIII site was substituted for the insertion of other promoter sequences.

7,438 citations