Brachypodium distachyon. A new model system for functional genomics in grasses.

A new model for grass functional genomics is described based on Brachypodium distachyon, which in the evolution of the Pooideae diverged just prior to the clade of "core pooid" genera that contain the majority of important temperate cereals and forage grasses. Diploid ecotypes of B. distachyon (2n = 10) have five easily distinguishable chromosomes that display high levels of chiasma formation at meiosis. The B. distachyon nuclear genome was indistinguishable in size from that of Arabidopsis, making it the simplest genome described in grasses to date. B. distachyon is a self-fertile, inbreeding annual with a life cycle of less than 4 months. These features, coupled with its small size (approximately 20 cm at maturity), lack of seed-head shatter, and undemanding growth requirements should make it amenable to high-throughput genetics and mutant screens. Immature embryos exhibited a high capacity for plant regeneration via somatic embryogenesis. Regenerated plants display very low levels of albinism and have normal fertility. A simple transformation system has been developed based on microprojectile bombardment of embryogenic callus and hygromycin selection. Selected B. distachyon ecotypes were resistant to all tested cereal-adapted Blumeria graminis species and cereal brown rusts (Puccinia reconditia). In contrast, different ecotypes displayed resistance or disease symptoms following challenge with the rice blast pathogen (Magnaporthe grisea) and wheat/barley yellow stripe rusts (Puccinia striformis). Despite its small stature, B. distachyon has large seeds that should prove useful for studies on grain filling. Such biological characteristics represent important traits for study in temperate cereals.

Transgenic Indica rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants obtained by direct gene transfer to protoplasts.

We have established a reproducible procedure for transformation of protoplasts and regeneration of transgenic plants for an improved Indica rice cultivar IR43. Mature embryo-derived calli were placed in liquid culture medium containing maltose to establish meristematically active, embryogenic cell suspension lines. In order to obtain transgenic plants, a chimeric hygromycin phosphotransferase hph gene under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus CaMV 35S promoter was introduced into protoplasts from these cell suspension lines using polyethylene glycol. Protoplasts were cultured in maltose-containing medium. Hygromycin B selection was applied to 14-day-old dividing cell colonies. Resistant calli were readily obtained after 3 weeks of selection. Seventy-three plantlets were regenerated from resistant calli from several independent experiments, and a few of the 29 plants grown in the greenhouse reached maturity. Stable integration of the transgene in the genome of these plants was confirmed by Southern blot analysis and the expression of the transgene in plants by hygromycin phosphotransferase assay. The procedure described yielded 5 to 18 resistant colonies and approximately four transgenic plantlets per million treated protoplasts.

Fertile Indica rice plants regenerated from protoplasts isolated from scutellar tissue of immature embryos.

We report on the regeneration of fertile Indica rice (Oryza sativa L.) plants from protoplasts isolated from scutellar tissue of immature embryos. The average yields of protoplasts after purification ranged from 2.8 × 10(5) to 3.5 × 10(5) protoplasts per fifty embryos. Protoplasts developed rapidly to colonies when cultured in maltose containing medium using the nurse culture method. Upto 146 or 39 visible colonies per 10(6) protoplasts were obtained for the varieties Basmati 370 and IR43 respectively. Of two basal culture media compared, R2 medium containing 3 mg l(-1) kinetin, 1 mg l(-1) naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), 30 g l(-1) maltose and 3.0 g l(-1) agarose was found to be more effective in producing green plants. All scutellum protoplast-derived plants that were transferred to the greenhouse survived and were fertile.