Abstract:

The effect of matrix attachment regions (MARs) on foreign gene expression in transgenic plants was studied. The β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene (uidA) was flanked by the MARs isolated from the genome of maize to form plant expression vector. The vectors with and without MARs were transferred into tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) through Agrobacterium mediated transformation procedure. GUS activity assays indicated that MARs could increase expression level of uidA gene. The mean GUS activity could be increased twofold as compared to that of transformants without MARs, and the highest GUS activity of transformant could reach tenfold. The correspondence between GUS activity and mRNA accumulation was positive and indicated that MARs could improve transcription of foreign gene.

玉米核基质结合区在烟草中对外源转基因表达水平的影响
李旭刚 曾千春 陈松彪 徐军望 常团结 朱祯*

（中国科学院遗传研究所，北京100101）

摘要： 为研究核基质结合区(matrix attachment region, MAR)在转基因植物中的功能,将来自玉米基因组的MAR序列构建在植物表达载体T-DNA中, 并将报告基因β-葡糖醛酸酶(β-glucuronidase, GUS)基因(uidA)插入两段MARs序列之间.将此载体与不包含MARs序列的植物表达载体分别转化烟草(Nicotiana tabacum L.).GUS活性检测表明,MARs可以显著提高外源基因uidA在转基因烟草中的表达水平,平均表达水平提高2倍,最高单株活性可达10倍.并且转基因植株GUS活性高低与稳定mRNA的量成正比,表明MARs在转录水平提高基因表达.

关键词： 核基质结合区；β-葡糖醛酸酶；转基因；基因表达

通讯作者。E-mail;zzhu @ genetics.ac.cn.

Key words: matrix attachment region, β-glucuronidase, transgene, gene expression