The coding sequence of Vitreoscilla hemoglobin (vhb) was cloned with PCR technique from Vitreoscilla stercoraria Pringsheim. The plant expression vector with vhb gene under the control of CaMV 35S promoter was constructed and used in the transformation of Petunia hybrida Vilm by the Agrobacterium mediated procedure. The results of PCR amplification and Southern hybridization indicated that the vhb gene had been integrated into the petunia genome and the vhb gene expression had been detected by RT-PCR amplification. In hydroponic culture the transgenic petunias grew much better than non-transgenic controls. For further analysis of hypoxia tolerance of transgenic petunia, the petunia plants with vhb gene were submerged into liquid MS medium. The transgenic plants survived in hypoxic condition and grew out of the liquid surface in a few weeks, while non-transgenic plants were still submerged and suffocated in culture solution without ability to grow out of liquid medium in submersed culture for four to five weeks. The vhb gene transformed petunia plants had been planted and tested in a simulated flooding condition, and showed obvious tolerance to water-logging. It seen is that hemoglobin gene from Vitreoscilla might have the potential use in molecular breeding for the improvement of plant resistance to hypoxia and flooding.
Cre site-specific recombinase-mediated DNA excision system was driven by the heat shock promoter Gmhsp17.5C. In this system, the DNA fragment with CaMV35S-GUS franked by two identical orientation loxp sites could be excised from the transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. W38) by Cre expression under control of heat shock promoter. This transgenic system has been determined by quantitative PCR and showed Cre/lox mediated recombination efficiency. Results showed that 41% of DNA fragment with CaMV35S-GUS in the transgenic tobacco could be excised after a two-hour heat shock treatment. Based on several advantages of heat shock-inducible site-specific recombination system such as easy manipulation, sensitivity to heat shock and no background expression, it can be potentially used for inducible DNA manipulation in transgenic plant.
