TECHNICAL ADVANCE: Induction of phenotypic variation by activation of genes harbouring a maize Spm element in their promoter regions using a TnpA–VP16 fusion protein

• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313x.2007.03355.x
• Publication Date: 2008-01-25T10:49:49Z
• Authors: Alexander P. Sorokin; Sean Walsh; Kim Baumann; John Nichols; Michael Bevan; Jonathan D.G. Jones; Cathie Martin; Jonathan H. Clarke
• Keywords: Variation (astronomy)

Summary For many crops, a narrowing genetic base is becoming an increasingly significant problem for improvements made through breeding. Commonly used breeding procedures systematically reduce diversity within elite gene pools. Here we describe new technique activation of genes in lines carrying Spm or dSpm transposon insertions. Activation Arabidopsis harbouring insertions their promoters can be induced by over‐expression the TnpA–VP16 fusion protein, which binds ends and activates local transcription. As result, variety phenotypes are recovered from multiple‐copy Arabidopsis. Application this to number insertion collections provides valuable approach insights into plant functions. It also proof‐of‐principle demonstration that method could generate variation maize.