Abstract
Transgenic tobacco plants over-expressing the Ochrobactrum anthropi pqrA gene, which encodes a membrane transporter mediating resistance to paraquat, were generated. Transgenic plants displayed higher resistance against paraquat than wild-type plants, as estimated by plant viability, ion leakage and chlorophyll loss, but no resistance against other active oxygen generators, such as H2O2 and menadione. Moreover, lower levels of paraquat accumulated in transgenic plants, compared to wild-type plants, indicating that the PqrA protein detoxifies paraquat either via increased efflux or decreased uptake of the herbicide, but not by removing active oxygen species. The results collectively demonstrate that the bacterial paraquat resistance gene, pqrA, can be functionally expressed in plant cells, and utilized for the development of paraquat-resistant crop plants.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
An G, Ebert PR, Mitra A, Ha SB (1988) Binary vectors. In: Gelvin SP, Schilperoort RA, eds. Plant Molecular Biology Manual, Chapter A3. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 1–19.
Arnon DI (1949) Copper enzymes in isolated chloroplasts. Poly-phenoloxidase in Bata vulgaris. Plant Physiol. 24: 1–15.
Bowler C, Van Montagu M, Inze D (1992) Superoxide dismutase and stress tolerance. Annu. Rev. Plant Physiol. Plant Mol. Biol. 43: 83–116.
Cadenas E, Sies H (1985) Oxidative stress: excited oxygen species and enzyme activity. Adv. Enzyme Regul. 23: 217–237.
Gressel J (1989) Conferring herbicide resistance on susceptible crops. In: Dodge A, ed. Herbicides and Plant Metabolism,Society for Experimental Biology Seminar Series 38. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 239–242.
Holsters M, De Waele D, Depicker A, Messens E, Van Montagu M, Schell J (1978) Transfection and transformation of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Mol. Gen. Genet. 163: 181–187.
Hongo E, Morimyo M, Mita K, Machida I, Hama-Inaba H, Tsuji H, Ichimura S, Noda Y (1994) The methyl viologen-resistance-encoding gene smvA ofSalmonella typhimurium. Gene 148: 173–174.
Horsch RB, Fry JE, Hoffmann NL, Eichholtz D, Rogers SG., Raley RT (1985) A simple and general method for transferring genes into plants. Science 227: 1229–1231.
Mittler R, Herr EH, Orvar BL, Camp VW, Willekens H, Inze D, Ellis BE (1999) Transgenic tobacco plants with reduced capability to detoxify reactive oxygen intermediates are hyper-responsive to pathogen infection. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 96: 14165–14170.
Morimyo M (1988) Isolation and characterization of methyl viologen-sensitive mutants of Escherichia coli K-12. J. Bacteriol. 170: 2136–2142.
Morimyo M, Hongo E, Hama-Inaba H, Machida I (1992) Cloning and characterization of the mvrC gene of Escherichia coli K-12 which confers resistance against methyl viologen toxicity. Nucleic Acids Res. 20: 3159–3165.
Murashige T, Skoog F (1962) A revise medium for rapid growth and bioassays with tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol. Plant. 15: 473–497.
Sambrook J, Fritsch EF, Maniatis T (1989) Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.
Won S-H, Lee B-H, Lee H-S, Jo J (2001) An Ochrobactrum anthropi gene conferring paraquat resistance to the heterologous host Escherichia coli. Biochem. Biophysic. Res. Comm. 285: 885–890.
Yerushalmi H, Lebendiker M, Schuldiner S (1995) EmrE, an Escherichia coli 12-kDa multidrug transporter, exchanges toxic cations and H +and is soluble in organic solvents. J. Biol. Chem. 270: 6856–6863.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Jo, J., Won, SH., Son, D. et al. Paraquat resistance of transgenic tobacco plants over-expressing the Ochrobactrum anthropi pqrA gene. Biotechnology Letters 26, 1391–1396 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BILE.0000045638.82348.7a
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:BILE.0000045638.82348.7a