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Inheritance and Expression of Chimeric Genes in the Progeny of Transgenic Maize Plants

Bio/Technology volume 8, pages 833–839 (1990)Cite this article

Abstract

We obtained transgenic maize plants by using high-velocity microprojectiles to transfer genes into embryogenic cells. Two selectable genes were used to confer resistance to either chlorsulfuron or phosphinothricin, and genes encoding either E. coli β-glucuronidase or firefly luciferase were used as markers to provide convenient assays for transformation. When regenerated without selection, only two of the eight transformed embryogenic calli obtained produced transgenic maize plants. With selection, transgenic plants were obtained from three of the other eight calli. One of the two initial lines produced 15 fertile transgenic plants. The progeny of these plants contained and expressed the foreign genes. Luciferase expression could be visualized, in the presence of added luciferin, by overlaying leaf sections with color film.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. Michael E. Fromm & Fionnuala Morrish

    Present address: Plant Sciences, Monsanto Gompany, 700 Chesterfield Village Pkwy, St. Louis, MO, 63198

  2. Theodore M. Klein

    Present address: E. I. DuPont, Medical Products Division, B-100 Box 122, Lab 102, Glasgow, DE, 19702

  3. Michael E. Fromm: Corresponding author.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Gene Expression Genter, USDA/UG Berkeley, 800 Buchanan St., Albany, CA, 94710

    Michael E. Fromm, Fionnuala Morrish, Rosalind Williams, John Thomas & Theodore M. Klein

  2. Plant Sciences, Monsanto Company, 700 Chesterfield Village Pkwy, St. Louis, MO, 63198

    Charles Armstrong

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  1. Michael E. Fromm
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  6. Theodore M. Klein
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Fromm, M., Morrish, F., Armstrong, C. et al. Inheritance and Expression of Chimeric Genes in the Progeny of Transgenic Maize Plants. Nat Biotechnol 8, 833–839 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0990-833

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