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  • Meiotic Transmission of an In Vitro-Assembled Autonomous Maize Minichromosome

    Carlson, Shawn R., Rudgers, Gary W., Zieler, Helge, Mach, Jennifer M., Luo, Song, Grunden, Eric, Krol, Cheryl, Copenhaver, Gregory P., and Preuss, Daphne (2007) PLoS Genetics 2007 3(10):e179

    Abstract

    Autonomous chromosomes are generated in yeast (yeast artificial chromosomes) and human fibrosarcoma cells (human artificial chromosomes) by introducing purified DNA fragments that nucleate a kinetochore, replicate, and segregate to daughter cells. These autonomous minichromosomes are convenient for manipulating and delivering DNA segments containing multiple genes. In contrast, commercial production of transgenic crops relies on methods that integrate one or a few genes into host chromosomes; extensive screening to identify insertions with the desired expression level, copy number, structure, and genomic location; and long breeding programs to produce varieties that carry multiple transgenes. As a step toward improving transgenic crop production, we report the development of autonomous maize minichromosomes (MMCs). We constructed circular MMCs by combining DsRed and nptII marker genes with 7–190 kb of genomic maize DNA fragments containing satellites, retroelements, and/or other repeats commonly found in centromeres and using particle bombardment to deliver these constructs into embryogenic maize tissue. Read More

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