A METHOD FOR THE STABLE SUPPRESSION OF GENE ACTIVITY IN PLANTS

ONE MAJOR LIMITATION TO PLANT VARIETY IMPROVEMENT VIA GENETIC ENGINEERING IS THE INABILITY TO SPECIFICALLY INACTIVATE GENES, EITHER PLANT GENES WHICH CONFER A DELETERIOUS PHENOTYPE, OR VIRAL GENES WHICH FUNCTION TO INITIATE THE INFECTION PROCESS. ADVANCED GENETIC SCIENCES, INC. PROPOSES TO EVALUATE A METHOD WHICH WILL ALLOW SUPPRESSION OF GENES IN A TISSUE-SPECIFIC AND REGULATED WAY. THE EXPERIMENT INVOLVES THE STABLE TRANSFORMATION OF TOBACCO PLANTS WHICH CARRIES A NOPALINE SYNTHASE (NOS) GENE, WITH A FUSION BETWEEN A LIGHT-INDUCIBLE, LEAF-SPECIFIC PROMOTER, AND THE INVERTED NOS GENE CODING REGION (IE. ANTI-SENSE STRAND). THE RESEARCHERS WILL TEST WHETHER THE PLANTS TRANSFORMED WITH THE ANTI-SENSE CONSTRUCTS HAVE DECREASED LEVELS OF NOS ACTIVITY, AND WHETHER THIS SUPPRESSION OF ACTIVITY IS REGULATED IN A MANNER WHICH CORRESPONDS WITH THE EXPRESSION OF THE ANTI-SENSE (IE. LIGHT REGULATED, LEAF-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION).