Abundance of Transgene Transcript Variants Associated with Somatically Active Transgenic Helitrons from Multiple T-DNA Integration Sites in Maize

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences 2023-03, Vol.24 (7), p.6574
• Main Authors: Li, Chuxi, Cong, Chunsheng, Liu, Fangyuan, Yu, Qian, Zhan, Yuan, Zhu, Li, Li, Yubin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Base Sequence; C1 gene; circular intermediate; Corn; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA Transposable Elements - genetics; Eukaryotes; Gene expression; Genetic crosses; Genome, Plant; Genomes; Genotype & phenotype; Helitron; Helitrons; Hybrids; Inbreeding; Intermediates; maize; Plants - genetics; Progeny; Proteins; Seedlings; Seeds; somatic excision; T-DNA; transcript variation; Transgenes; Transposition; Transposons; Zea mays - genetics
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms24076574

, a novel type of mysterious DNA transposons discovered computationally prior to bench work confirmation, are components ubiquitous in most sequenced genomes of various eukaryotes, including plants, animals, and fungi. There is a paucity of empirical evidence to elucidate the mechanism of transposition in plants. Here, by constructing several artificial defective ( ) reporter systems, we aim to identify the autonomous ( ) in maize genetically and to demonstrate the transposition and repair mechanisms of upon the excision in maize. When crossing with various inbred lines, several transgenic lines produced progeny of segregated, purple-blotched kernels, resulting from a leaky expression of the gene driven by the -interrupted promoter. Transcription analysis indicated that the insertion of different into the promoter or exon would lead to multiple distinct mRNA transcripts corresponding to transgenes in the host genome. Simple excision products and circular intermediates of transposition have been detected from the leaf tissue of the seedlings in F hybrids of transgenic lines with corresponding tester, although they failed to be detected in all primary transgenic lines. These results revealed the transposition and repair mechanism of in maize. It is strongly suggested that this reporter system can detect the genetic activity of autonomic at the molecular level. Sequence features of itself, together with the flanking regions, impact the excision activity of and the regulation of the on the transcription level of the host gene.