화학공학소재연구정보센터
Biotechnology Letters, Vol.26, No.9, 729-733, 2004
Lotus hairy roots expressing inducible arginine decarboxylase activity
Biotechnological uses of plant cell-tissue culture usually rely on constitutive transgene expression. However, such expression of transgenes may not always be desirable. In those cases, the use of an inducible promoter could be an alternative approach. To test this hypothesis, we developed two binary vectors harboring a stress-inducible promoter from Arabidopsis thaliana, driving the betaglucuronidase reporter gene and the oat arginine decarboxylase. Transgenic hairy roots of Lotus corniculatus were obtained with osmotic- and cold-inducible betaglucuronidase and arginine decarboxylase activities. The increase in the activity of the latter was accompanied by a significant rise in total free polyamines level. Through an organogenesis process, we obtained L. corniculatus transgenic plants avoiding deleterious phenotypes frequently associated with the constitutive over-expression of arginine decarboxylation and putrescine accumulation.