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Transforming petals into sepaloid organs in Arabidopsis and oilseed rape: implementation of the hairpin RNA-mediated gene silencing technology in an organ-specific manner

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Abstract

Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) genotypes with no or small petals are thought to have advantages in photosynthetic activity. The flowers of field-grown oilseed rape form a bright-yellow canopy that reflects and absorbs nearly 60% of the photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), causing a severe yield penalty. Reducing the size of the petals and/or removing the reflecting colour will improve the transmission of PAR to the leaves and is expected to increase the crop productivity. In this study the ‘hairpin’ RNA-mediated (hpRNA) gene silencing technology was implemented in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh. and B. napus to silence B-type MADS-box floral organ identity genes in a second-whorl-specific manner. In Arabidopsis, silencing of B-type MADS-box genes was obtained by expressing B. napus APETALA3 (BAP3) or PISTILLATA (BPI) homologous self-complementary hpRNA constructs under control of the Arabidopsis A-type MADS-box gene APETALA1 (AP1) promoter. In B. napus, silencing of the BPI gene family was achieved by expressing a similar hpRNA construct as used in Arabidopsis under the control of a chimeric promoter consisting of a modified petal-specific Arabidopsis AP3 promoter fragment fused to the AP1 promoter. In this way, transgenic plants were generated producing male fertile flowers in which the petals were converted into sepals (Arabidopsis) or into sepaloid petals (B. napus). These novel flower phenotypes were stable and heritable in both species.

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Fig. 1a–d
Fig. 2a–f
Fig. 3a–e

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Abbreviations

PAR:

photosynthetically active radiation

ST-LS1:

potato light-inducible tissue-specific ST-LS1 gene

GUS:

β-glucuronidase

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Peter Waterhouse (CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia), Dr. Bart Den Boer and Dr. Jean Broadhvest (Bayer BioScience N.V., Gent, Belgium) for their helpful advice in writing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bayer BioScience N.V., Jozef Plateaustraat 22, 9000, Gent, Belgium

    Marina Byzova, Christoph Verduyn, Dirk De Brouwer & Marc De Block

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  1. Marina Byzova
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  2. Christoph Verduyn
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  3. Dirk De Brouwer
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  4. Marc De Block
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Correspondence to Marc De Block.

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Byzova, M., Verduyn, C., De Brouwer, D. et al. Transforming petals into sepaloid organs in Arabidopsis and oilseed rape: implementation of the hairpin RNA-mediated gene silencing technology in an organ-specific manner. Planta 218, 379–387 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-003-1117-1

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