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Longevity of 5-azacytidine-mediated gene expression and re-establishment of silencing in transgenic rice

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Abstract

Epigenetic silencing of a bialaphos resistance (bar) gene in R1 progeny of a transgenic rice line was found to be meiotically stable since selfed (R2) progeny were also susceptible and the bar locus highly methylated. A high proportion of R2 seedlings germinated in the presence of 5-azacytidine (AzaC) were herbicide-resistant and also contained at least one unmethylated copy of the bar gene, further establishing the relationship between silencing and methylation. Restored bar gene expression was typically maintained for 20–50 days, but eventual methylation and silencing of the bar locus underscores the ability of the recipient genome to recognize and inactivate intrusive DNA.

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Author notes

  1. Siva P. Kumpatla

    Present address: Laboratory for Crop Genome Analysis, Crop Biotechnology Center and Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-2123, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Developmental and Molecular Biology, and Department of Biology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-3155, USA

    Timothy C. Hall

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  1. Siva P. Kumpatla
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Kumpatla, S.P., Hall, T.C. Longevity of 5-azacytidine-mediated gene expression and re-establishment of silencing in transgenic rice. Plant Mol Biol 38, 1113–1122 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006071018039

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