日本岡山大學(xué)資源植物研究所教授村田稔率領(lǐng)的研究小組25日宣布,，他們成功在植物細(xì)胞內(nèi)人工制造出了帶有遺傳信息的染色體。這一成果將有助于開發(fā)新的作物品種,。
研究小組使用擬南芥，利用“自頂向下分析法”,，通過操控細(xì)胞內(nèi)原有的染色體,，并進(jìn)行改編，制作出了比通常染色體要小的環(huán)狀人工染色體,。即使是自花授粉的種子,，也有40％以上繼承了這種人工染色體。
研究小組說,，利用植物制作出能被下一代繼承的人工染色體,，這在世界上尚屬首次。通過向這種染色體植入特定的基因,，就可培育出能抗病蟲和抗倒伏的新植物和作物品種,。
村田稔說：“利用這種技術(shù)，還可以只在水稻生長期間,，植入抗病蟲和抗倒伏的基因,。”
這一成果的相關(guān)論文已刊登在英國《植物雜志》上。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1111/tpj.12128
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Generation of an artificial ring chromosome in Arabidopsis by Cre/LoxP-mediated recombination
Minoru Murata, Fukashi Shibata, Akiko Hironaka, Kazunari Kashihara, Satoru Fujimoto, Etsuko Yokota, Kiyotaka Nagaki
A eukaryotic chromosome consists of a centromere, two telomeres and a number of replication origins, and ‘artificial chromosomes’ may be created in yeast and mammals when these three elements are artificially joined and introduced into cells. Plant artificial chromosomes (PACs) have been suggested as new vectors for the development of new crops and as tools for basic research on chromosomes. However, indisputable PAC formation has not yet been confirmed. Here, we present a method for generating PACs in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana using the Cre/LoxP and Activator/Dissociation element systems. The successfully generated PAC, designated AtARC1 (A. thaliana artificial ring chromosome 1), originated from a centromeric edge of the long arm of chromosome 2, but its size (2.85 Mb) is much smaller than that of the original chromosome (26.3 Mb). Although AtARC1 contains only a short centromere domain consisting of 180 bp repeats approximately 250 kb in length, compared with the 3 Mb domain on the original chromosome 2, centromere-specific histone H3 (HTR12) was detected on the centromeric region. This result supported the observed stability of the PAC during mitosis in the absence of selection, and transmission of the PAC to the next generation through meiosis. Because AtARC1 contains a unique LoxP site driven by the CaMV 35S promoter, it is possible to introduce a selectable marker and desired transgenes into AtARC1 at the LoxP site using Cre recombinase. Therefore, AtARC1 meets the criteria for a PAC and is a promising vector.
