Open AccessIn Situ Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Genes from Transgenic (Transplastomic) Tobacco Plants to Bacteria
Author(s) -
Elisabeth Kay,
Timothy M. Vogel,
Frank Bertolla,
Renaud Nalin,
Pascal Simonet
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
applied and environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.552
H-Index - 324
eISSN - 1070-6291
pISSN - 0099-2240
DOI - 10.1128/aem.68.7.3345-3351.2002
Subject(s) - biology , horizontal gene transfer , transgene , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , bacteria , gene cassette , gene , spectinomycin , ralstonia solanacearum , genetically modified crops , homologous recombination , agrobacterium tumefaciens , nicotiana tabacum , genome , antibiotic resistance , integron
Interkingdom gene transfer is limited by a combination of physical, biological, and genetic barriers. The results of greenhouse experiments involving transplastomic plants (genetically engineered chloroplast genomes) cocolonized by pathogenic and opportunistic soil bacteria demonstrated that these barriers could be eliminated. The Acinetobacter sp. strain BD413, which is outfitted with homologous sequences to chloroplastic genes, coinfected a transplastomic tobacco plant with Ralstonia solanacearum and was transformed by the plant's transgene (aadA) containing resistance to spectinomycin and streptomycin. However, no transformants were observed when the homologous sequences were omitted from the Acinetobacter sp. strain. Detectable gene transfer from these transgenic plants to bacteria were dependent on gene copy number, bacterial competence, and the presence of homologous sequences. Our data suggest that by selecting plant transgene sequences that are nonhomologous to bacterial sequences, plant biotechnologists could restore the genetic barrier to transgene transfer to bacteria.