African Journal of
Biotechnology

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Biotechnol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1684-5315
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJB
  • Start Year: 2002
  • Published Articles: 12497

Full Length Research Paper

Overexpression of a foxtail millet Acetyl-CoA carboxylase gene in maize increases sethoxydim resistance and oil content

Zhigang Dong1,2#,Huji Zhao1#,Junguang He1, Junling Huai1, Heng Lin1, Jun Zheng3, Yunjun Liu3 and Guoying Wang1,3*
1State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China. 2Pomology Research Institute, Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Taigu 030815, China. 3Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
Email: [email protected]

  •  Accepted: 11 April 2011
  •  Published: 16 May 2011

Abstract

Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase) plays a crucial role in fatty acid metabolism in plants, catalyzing the carboxylation of acetyl-CoA to produce malonyl-CoA. In grasses, the plastids ACCases are critical determinants of plant sensitivity to herbicide classes cyclohexanediones (CHDs) and aryloxyphenoxy propionates (APPs). We transformed the full-length cDNA of a plastid ACCase gene from foxtail millet (Setaria italica) line Chum BC6-1, which is highly resistant to sethoxydim, into maize (Zea mays L.) drived by a ubiquitin promoter. The substantial results indicated that the sethoxydim resistance of transgenic plants is increased, with a damage index of 33%, much lower than that of 97% in the untransformed plants. Additionally, the oil content of transgenic maize seeds was24 to 65% higher than that of untransformed seeds. These results indicate that theACCase transgenic plants can be used to develop new maize hybrids that are tolerant to herbicide CHDs with high oil content.

 

Key words: Zea mays, Acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase (ACCase), oil content, transgenic plants, Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Abbreviation

Abbreviations: ACCase, Acetyl-CoA carboxylase; CHDs, cyclohexanediones;APPs, aryloxyphenoxy propionates; HR, high resistance; HS, high sensitivity.