Biotech Updates

Cleistogamy Allele for Gene Containment in GM Rice

September 7, 2007

Cleistogamy describes the characteristic of certain plants, mostly legumes, to propagate by non-opening, self-pollinating flowers, a mechanism believed to be an efficient strategy for preventing gene flow from GM crops. A group of Japanese scientists identified a cleistogamous mutant of rice harboring a point mutation in the SUPERWOMAN1 (SPW1) gene,  known to be responsible in specifying the identities of petals and stamen. The mutants are characterized by malformed petals and normal stamens. Since this mutation does not affect other agronomic traits, it can be used in crosses to produce transgenic lines that do not cause environmental perturbation.

Read the abstract at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-7652.2007.00291.x or the full paper at http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1467-7652.2007.00291.x