Turkish Journal of Biology
Abstract
Plant-mediated RNA interference (RNAi) has shown a great potential in pest control and requires i) subcloning of sense/antisense regions in compatible vectors, ii) transfer of the silencing cassette into a binary vector, iii) transformation of Agrobacterium tumefaciens with desired binary plasmids, and iv) transformation of plants with Agrobacterium. The procedure is long and should ensure plasmid backbone stability; however, plasmid recombination due to antibiotic selection is a common problem. pGSA1252 is an RNAi silencing binary vector allowing direct cloning of hairpin structure; however, it possesses a chloramphenicol selection marker leading to plasmid recombination in various Agrobacterium strains. To solve this selection marker/Agrobacterium compatibility problem and to shorten the cloning process, we developed a new RNAi vector system containing the RNAi cassette of pGSA1252 in a plant expression vector, pMDC32, which has kanamycin as the selection marker. A T7 RNA polymerase promoter was also incorporated adjacent to the multiple cloning site, allowing for in vitro dsRNA synthesis. This vector was tested by transforming Arabidopsis thaliana with 4 different dsRNA constructs specific to insect midgut genes: insect intestinal mucin 1/4, peritrophic matrix protein 1, chitin deacetylase 1, and chitin synthase-B. This improved system shows no recombination and shortens the entire cloning procedure.
DOI
10.3906/biy-1304-4
Keywords
RNA interference, plant transformation, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, chloramphenicol, kanamycin, Arabidopsis thaliana
First Page
40
Last Page
47
Recommended Citation
TOPRAK, UMUT; COUTU, CATHY; BALDWIN, DOUG; ERLANDSON, MARTIN; and HEGEDUS, DWAYNE
(2014)
"Development of an improved RNA interference vector system for Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation,"
Turkish Journal of Biology: Vol. 38:
No.
1, Article 5.
https://doi.org/10.3906/biy-1304-4
Available at:
https://journals.tubitak.gov.tr/biology/vol38/iss1/5