Objective
Research objectives and content
We propose to develop a new tool for non destructive gene trapping by transposon tagging, in order to isolate genes induced during fruit development in tomato. Transposon tagging allows the identification of genes on the basis of mutant phenotypes resulting from the insertion of a known transposable element carrying a reporter gene. The
Beta-glucuronidase gene is the most widely used reporter gene in plants, but detection of its expression requires staining which is destructive for the plant under study. We propose to use the maize gene, Lc, as a non destructive visual reporter gene. This gene is a transcriptional factor which activates the anthocyanin pathway. It was shown to be expressed in tomato and to cause purple pigmentation in a normally non purple tissue. A new tomato model will be used for this purpose. It consists of the miniature Microtom tomato cultivar, which can be growth at high density, and has a short life cycle. A Ds-Lc-trap within Microtom offers an unique system to isolate genes involved in fruit development and to characterize their spatial and temporal pattern of expression. Training content (objective, benefit and expected impact)
The training content of this research will be to learn T-DNA construction, plant transformation, transposon tagging and gene expression analysis. As very little is known on the genes involved in fruit development in tomato, the most important crop for the vegetable market, impact of this project will be both scientifically and technologically important.
Links with industry / industrial relevance (22)
Funding Scheme
RGI - Research grants (individual fellowships)Coordinator
76100 Rehovot
Israel