Production of mRNA from the cry1Ac transgene differs among Bollgard® lines which correlates to the level of subsequent protein

• Published in: Transgenic research Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 143 - 149
• Main Authors: Adamczyk, John J. Jr, Perera, Omaththage, Meredith, William R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands 01-02-2009; Springer Netherlands; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Genetics and Genomics; Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. berliner; Bacterial Proteins - genetics; Bacterial Proteins - metabolism; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology; Bollgard; Brief Communication; cotton; crystal proteins; cultivars; delta-endotoxins; Endotoxins - genetics; Endotoxins - metabolism; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; gene expression; Genetic Engineering; Gossypium - genetics; Gossypium - metabolism; Gossypium hirsutum; Hemolysin Proteins - genetics; Hemolysin Proteins - metabolism; insecticidal proteins; Insecticides - metabolism; Life Sciences; messenger RNA; Molecular Medicine; Pest Control, Biological; Plant Genetics and Genomics; plant-incorporated protectants; Plants, Genetically Modified - genetics; Plants, Genetically Modified - metabolism; polymerase chain reaction; quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; transgenes; Transgenes - physiology; transgenic plants; Transgenics; Genetically-modified organisms (GMO); Real-time PCR; Insect-Plant-Protectants (PIP)
• ISSN: 0962-8819; 1573-9368
• DOI: 10.1007/s11248-008-9198-z

Commercial cultivars of Bollgard cotton, Gossypium hirsutum L., differ in the amount of expressed Cry1Ac protein. However, the plant-mechanism for which this occurs is still unknown. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), we developed a method to determine if differences in the overall level of Cry1Ac among Bollgard lines could be correlated to the mRNA transcripts. Our data shows that the cry1Ac mRNA transcript differs among Bollgard lines and are correlated with corresponding Cry1Ac protein levels. In addition, qPCR based methods can efficiently be employed to quantify Cry1Ac protein expression levels in transgenic cotton cultivars. We postulate that qPCR based methods could be successfully employed for quantifying expression levels of transgenes in plants carrying different Bt toxins.