Rapid screening for dominant negative mutations in the beet necrotic yellow vein virus triple gene block proteins P13 and P15 using a viral replicon.

Point mutations were introduced into the genes encoding the triple gene bock movement proteins P13 and P15 of beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV). Mutations which disabled viral cell-to-cell movement in Chenopodium quinoa were then tested for their ability to act as dominant negative inhibiters of movement of wild-type BNYVV when expressed from a co-inoculated BNYVV RNA 3-based replicon. For P13, three types of mutation inhibited the movement function: non-synomynous mutations in the N- and C-terminal hydrophobic domains, a mutation at the boundary between the N-terminal hydrophobic domain and the central hydrophilic domain (mutant P13-A12), and mutations in the conserved sequence motif in the central hydrophilic domain. However, only the 'boundary' mutant P13-A12 strongly inhibited movement of wild-type virus when expressed from the co-inoculated replicon. Similar experiments with P15 detected four movement-defective mutants which strongly inhibited cell-to-cell movement of wild-type BNYVV when the mutants were expressed from a co-inoculated replicon. Beta vulgaris transformed with two of these P15 mutants were highly resistant to fungus-mediated infection with BNYVV.

Cryopreservation of in vitro sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) shoot tips by a vitrification technique.

Sugar beet shoot tips from cold-acclimated plants were successfully cryopreserved using a vitrification technique. Dissected shoot tips were precultured for 1 day at 5  °C on solidified DGJ0 medium with 0.3 M sucrose. After loading for 20 min with a mixture of 2 M glycerol and 0.4 M sucrose (20  °C), shoot tips were dehydrated with PVS2 (0  °C) for 20 min prior to immersion in liquid nitrogen. Both cold acclimation and loading enhanced the dehydration tolerance of shoot tips to PVS2. After thawing, shoot tips were deloaded for 15 min in liquid DGJ0 medium with 1.2 M sucrose (20  °C). The optimal exposure time to both loading solution and PVS2 depended on the in vitro morphology of the clone. With tetraploid clones a higher sucrose concentration during cold acclimation and preculture further enhanced survival after cryopreservation. Survival rates ranged between 60% and 100% depending on the clone. Since only 10-50% of the surviving shoot tips developed into non-hyperhydric shoots, regrowth was optimized.

Stomatal Guard Cells Are Totipotent.

It has been successfully demonstrated, using epidermis explants of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.), that stomatal guard cells retain full totipotent capacity. Despite having one of the highest degrees of morphological adaptation and a unique physiological specialization, it is possible to induce a re-expression of full (embryogenic) genetic potential in these cells in situ by reversing their highly differentiated nature to produce regenerated plants via a callus stage. The importance of these findings both to stomatal research and to our understanding of cytodifferentiation in plants is discussed.

A high efficiency technique for the generation of transgenic sugar beets from stomatal guard cells.

An optimized protocol has been developed for the efficient and rapid genetic modification of sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.). A polyethylene glycol-mediated DNA transformation technique could be applied to protoplast populations enriched specifically for a single totipotent cell type derived from stomatal guard cells, to achieve high transformation frequencies. Bialaphos resistance, conferred by the pat gene, produced a highly efficient selection system. The majority of plants were obtained within 8 to 9 weeks and were appropriate for plant breeding purposes. All were resistant to glufosinate-ammonium-based herbicides. Detailed genomic characterization has verified transgene integration, and progeny analysis showed Mendelian inheritance.

Construction and characterisation of a yeast artificial chromosome library containing five haploid sugarbeet (Beta vulgaris L.) genome equivalents.

A yeast artificial chromosome (YAC) genomic library of Beta vulgaris was constructed in the pYAC4 vector. High-molecular-weight DNA was prepared from agarose-embedded leaf protoplasts from a triploid cultivar. The library was found to contain 33,500 clones in an ordered array of microtiter plates. Mean size of the inserts was estimated to be 135 kb, and the library should therefore represent the equivalent of five haploid genomes. The library was characterised for the presence of highly repetitive, chloroplast and single-copy sequences. In order to isolate single-copy sequences, 18 pools of DNA, each from 1920 individual YAC clones, were prepared for rapid screening of the library by the polymerase chain reaction. The results of these screenings showed that the number of isolated clones was at or near the frequency expected.

Molecular interactions in the control region of the carAB operon encoding Escherichia coli carbamoylphosphate synthetase.

The control region of the carAB operon, encoding carbamoylphosphate synthetase, comprises two tandem promoters (P1, upstream and P2, downstream) located 67 base-pairs apart and repressed respectively by pyrimidines and arginine. RNA polymerase and pure arginine repressor bind to the P2 region in mutually exclusive ways. Repressor protects the two adjacent palindromic ARG boxes overlapping P2 against DNase I. Binding of RNA polymerase to P1 is abnormal; the region protected against DNase I is shifted upstream by about 20 nucleotides with respect to the position expected from the transcription startpoint. This pattern is not due to interference with polymerase binding at P2, since it is observed also in the presence of repressor and on an isolated P1 region. Binding of RNA polymerase is relatively weak and heparin-sensitive suggesting that, in vivo, an ancillary factor is required to promote the formation of an open complex. S1 nuclease mapping experiments show that the simultaneous presence of pyrimidines and arginine represses the downstream arginine-specific promoter (P2) more efficiently than arginine alone. This effect is not due to a direct regulatory interaction between pyrimidines and P2, since it is not observed when P1 is inactivated by insertion mutations or partial deletion. It has been shown that transcription initiated at P1 can proceed even when arginine represses P2. We therefore suggest that P2 operator-arginine repressor complex is destabilized by RNA polymerase binding at P1 or transcription from P1. We describe a novel technique to select for expression-down mutants in a lac fusion context.

On the role of the Shine-Dalgarno sequence in determining the efficiency of translation initiation at a weak start codon in the car operon of Escherichia coli K12.

Translation of the carA gene is efficiently initiated at the intrinsically weak UUG codon. A single nucleotide substitution changing the Shine-Dalgarno box of carA (GGAGG) into the sequence TGAGG reduces translation of carA sevenfold. This result supports the view that extensive complementarity between the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and 16S RNA contributes significantly to the efficiency of translation when the latter starts at a weak initiation triplet.

Synthesis of Escherichia coli carbamoylphosphate synthetase initiates at a UUG codon.

The ribosome binding region of the messenger RNA for the Escherichia coli carA gene contains two adjacent putative translational start codons, UUG and AUU, both of them unusual. By Edman degradation and mass spectrometry of purified carA protein, we show that only UUG is used in vivo. Translation initiation at UUG in carA appears about half as efficient as at AUG in lacZ.

DNA sequence of the carA gene and the control region of carAB: tandem promoters, respectively controlled by arginine and the pyrimidines, regulate the synthesis of carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase in Escherichia coli K-12.

The carAB operon of Escherichia coli K-12, which encodes the two subunits of carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase (glutamine hydrolyzing) [carbon-dioxide: L-glutamine amido-ligase (ADP-forming, carbamate-phosphorylating); EC 6.3.5.5], is cumulatively repressed by arginine and the pyrimidines. We describe the structure of the control region of carAB and the sequence of the carA gene. Nuclease S1 mapping experiments show that two adjacent tandem promoters within the carAB control region serve as initiation sites. The upstream promoter P1 is controlled by pyrimidines; the downstream promoter P2 is regulated by arginine. Attenuation control does not appear to be involved in the expression of carAB. A possible mechanism by which control at these promoters concurs to produce a cumulative pattern of repression is discussed. The translational start of carA is atypical; it consists of a UUG or AUU codon.

Use of gene cloning to determine polarity of an operon: genes carAB of Escherichia coli.

A gene-cloning approach was used to determine the transcription polarity of the carbamoylphosphate operon (carAB) of Escherichia coli. In agreement with the accompanying paper (J. Bacteriol. 143:914-920, 1980), our results lead to the conclusion that carA is the proximal gene of the carAB operon.