Poster: Late and Moved Abstracts

Abs # 932: Contributions to the Functional Genomics of Rice: `The Generation of Transgenics for Transposon Mutagenesis in Oryza sativa ssp.japonica cv.Nipponbare` : A Project-Based Approach in "Modern Techniques in Plant Biotechnology".

Presenter:	Longo, Chip , chipperdoo@msn.com
Authors	Longo, Chip  (A)   Hague, Joel  (A)   Ayrapetov, Marina  (A)   Lor, Kia  (A)   Lor, Zoa  (A)   Jadosz, Amber  (A)   McSweeney, Dunkin  (A)   Pelloni, Aleatha  (A)   Scandariato, Justin  (A)   Birri, Jason  (A)   Thayer, Townsend  (A)   Smith, Cameron  (A)   Strattman, Benjamin  (A)   Gutgsell, Jessica  (A)   Moreno, Maria  (B)   Dellaporta, Stephen  (B)   Chandlee, Joel  (A)   Kausch, Albert  (A)
Affiliations:	(A): University Of Rhode Island (B): Yale University

The entire genome of rice (~40,000 genes) has been sequenced enabling identification of novel genes, proteins and traits. Due to extensive synteny between cereal crops, the information acquired from rice will aid in the study of other cereals, including: corn, barley, and wheat, and their future improvement. Understanding genetic structure and associated proteins in cereal crops will enable manipulations to improve nutrition and productivity. Functional definition requires a genetic, molecular and bioinformatics infrastructure to eventually complete an extensive collection of rice lines for phenotypic functional analysis. The project-based educational and research objective of this study is to develop the necessary trangenics to establish the basis for a library of randomly dispersed Ds elements throughout the rice genome. We describe progress over two years toward production and analysis of transgenics for use in rice transposon mutagenesis. We have used Agrobacterium-based constructs to produce transgenic rice plants in the context of a two semester skills-based course at the University of Rhode Island. All experiments have been carried out in Oryza sativa ssp. japonica cv. Nipponbare, the strain sequenced by the IRGSP. In the first year, constructs were developed and introduced into rice (cv. Nipponbare`) and events were screened for independent insertions of a genetically engineered Ds transposon. We report Agrobacterium-mediated transformation frequencies and subsequent plant regeneration. Molecular analysis has been performed on all transgenics. This study will include testing genetic selection strategies for recovery of independent, dispersed transpositions with both enhancer and gene trap capabilities.