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Journal of Wood Science

Official Journal of the Japan Wood Research Society

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Overexpression of a fungal laccase gene induces nondehiscent anthers and morphological changes in flowers of transgenic tobacco

Journal of Wood Science volume 56, pages 460–469 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Laccases play important roles in the development of fruiting bodies and in lignin degradation by basidiomycetes. In this study, we present novel phenotypes of transgenic tobacco plants with a chimeric gene for fungal laccase under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. At the flowering stage, the transgenic plants that produced recombinant laccase had brownish anthers instead of the greenish anthers of wild-type plants. The brownish anthers exhibited male sterility with a nondehiscent phenotype at varying frequencies. The frequency of nondehiscence depended on the temperature at which plants were cultivated and it was higher at 24°C than at 29°C. The cell wall structures of transgenic anther tissues were almost the same as in the wild type, but the stomium was severely deformed, and abnormal components were apparent in cells of the endothecium and epidermis. Furthermore, the pattern of deposition of flavonoids in the transgenic anther epidermis differed from the wild-type pattern. The expression of laccase also induced other phenotypic changes in the flowers of transgenic plants, namely, increased petal number, fused and petaloid stamens, and doubling of floral organs. These results indicate that the ectopic expression of laccase influences various aspects of flower development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Bio-Applications and Systems Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Koganei, Tokyo, 184-8588, Japan

    Zannatul Nasrin, Misato Yoshikawa, Yuki Nakamura, Mikiko Uesugi, Kanna Sato, Yoshihiro Katayama & Shinya Kajita

  2. Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, 183-8509, Japan

    Shahanara Begum, Satoshi Nakaba & Ryo Funada

  3. Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Yuriko Osakabe

  4. Faculty of Agriculture and Life Science, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki, 036-8561, Japan

    Tomonori Sonoki

  5. Institute for Environmental Management Technology, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Tsukuba, 305-8569, Japan

    Yosuke Iimura

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  1. Zannatul Nasrin
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  2. Misato Yoshikawa
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  3. Yuki Nakamura
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  4. Shahanara Begum
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  13. Shinya Kajita
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Correspondence to Shinya Kajita.

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Nasrin, Z., Yoshikawa, M., Nakamura, Y. et al. Overexpression of a fungal laccase gene induces nondehiscent anthers and morphological changes in flowers of transgenic tobacco. J Wood Sci 56, 460–469 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10086-010-1126-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10086-010-1126-1

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