Open AccessTransgenic maize lines with cell‐type specific expression of fluorescent proteins in plastids
Author(s) -
Sattarzadeh Amir,
Fuller Jonathan,
Moguel Salvador,
Wostrikoff Katia,
Sato Shirley,
Covshoff Sarah,
Clemente Tom,
Hanson Maureen,
Stern David B.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
plant biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.525
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1467-7652
pISSN - 1467-7644
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-7652.2009.00463.x
Subject(s) - plastid , biology , phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase , chloroplast , green fluorescent protein , vascular bundle , rubisco , microbiology and biotechnology , mutant , transgene , gene , botany , genetics
Summary Plastid number and morphology vary dramatically between cell types and at different developmental stages. Furthermore, in C4 plants such as maize, chloroplast ultrastructure and biochemical functions are specialized in mesophyll and bundle sheath cells, which differentiate acropetally from the proplastid form in the leaf base. To develop visible markers for maize plastids, we have created a series of stable transgenics expressing fluorescent proteins fused to either the maize ubiquitin promoter, the mesophyll‐specific phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase ( PepC ) promoter, or the bundle sheath‐specific Rubisco small subunit 1 ( RbcS ) promoter. Multiple independent events were examined and revealed that maize codon‐optimized versions of YFP and GFP were particularly well expressed, and that expression was stably inherited. Plants carrying PepC promoter constructs exhibit YFP expression in mesophyll plastids and the RbcS promoter mediated expression in bundle sheath plastids. The PepC and RbcS promoter fusions also proved useful for identifying plastids in organs such as epidermis, silks, roots and trichomes. These tools will inform future plastid‐related studies of wild‐type and mutant maize plants and provide material from which different plastid types may be isolated.