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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #116983
Title: EXPRESSION OF A WHEAT, HIGH MOLECULAR WEIGHT GLUTENIN IN TRANSGENIC MAIZE: A COMPARISON OF SEED-SPECIFIC PROMOTERS

Author
item MORAN, DANIEL - FORMER ARS EMPLOYEE
item Mottl, Erik
item SANGTONG, VARAPORN - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item CHIKWAMBA, RACHEL - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item WANG, KAN - IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
item Scott, Marvin

Submitted to: Maize Genetics Conference Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/11/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The high molecular weight glutenin of wheat is partly responsible for the elastic properties of dough. Corn flour does not contain this protein and therefore has limited dough quality. In order to improve the flour quality of corn and hence expand its value to the baking industry, we have placed two different gene constructs into the crop, both housing the coding region nfor the high molecular weight (HMW) glutenin subunit 1Dx5 from wheat, but driven by either the 1Dx5 wheat promoter or by the 27kDa gamma zein promoter from corn. Both plasmids were co-bombarded with the plasmid containing the selectable marker gene, bar, for selection and regeneration of transformed plants on the herbicide ammonium glufosinate. In our preliminary investigations, we have examined the expression of the 1Dx5 protein in the seed of stably transformed corn and shown that both promoters function to direct 1Dx5 protein accumulation to the endosperm. Analyses of the F1seeds of both lines indicate that plants transformed wit the zein promoter construct exhibited inheritance patterns closer to those expected from a Mendelian model than plants transformed with the unmodified wheat gene.