Background: Engineering apomixis in sexually reproducing plants has been long desired because of the potential to fix hybrid vigor. Validating the functionality of genes originated from apomictic species that contribute to apomixis upon transfer to sexually reproducing species is an important step. The
PsASGR-BABYBOOM-like (
PsASGR-BBML) gene from
Pennisetum squamulatum confers parthenogenesis in this apomict, and its functionality was demonstrated in several sexually reproducing monocots but not in any dicots. Methods: We introduced the
PsASGR-BBML gene regulated by egg cell-specific promoters, either
AtDD45 or
AtRKD2, into tobacco, and analyzed progeny of the transgenic lines resulting from self-pollination and crossing by flow cytometry. Results: We identified haploid progeny at a frequency lower than 1% in the
AtDD45pro lines, while at a frequency of 9.3% for an octoploid (2
n = 8
x)
AtRKD2pro line. Haploid production in the T
2 generation, derived from the tetraploid T
1 offspring of this original octoploid
AtRKD2pro line, was also observed. Pollinated by homozygous transgenic tobacco carrying a
DsRed marker gene, 4
x progeny of the
AtRKD2pro line yielded parthenogenetic embryos identified as DsRed negative. We verified that the DsRed negative seedlings recovered were haploid (2
x). Conclusion: The
PsASGR-BBML gene regulated by egg cell-specific promoters could enable parthenogenesis in tobacco, a dicotyledon species.
View Full-Text
►▼
Show Figures
This is an open access article distributed under the
Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited