Abstract
This review on transgene inactivation in Arabidopsis thaliana should not conceal the fact that—as in other plant species—there are numerous transformants which exhibit stable transgene expression and inheritance over many generations. Nevertheless, occasional loss of transgene expression in the progeny has been observed in many transformation experiments with Arabidopsis. In most cases, selection among the transgenic lines for those with a reliable gene expression is sufficient, and the exceptional lines can be treated as an experimental failure. However, the introduction of transgenes can be followed by silencing of foreign and endogenous genes, sometimes only in later generations, in attempts to achieve up- or downregulation of specific gene activity by overexpression or antisense inhibition as well as insertion mutagenesis. The interpretation of some results may therefore require consideration of the possibility of gene silencing.
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Scheid, O.M. (1995). Transgene Inactivation in Arabidopsis thaliana . In: Meyer, P. (eds) Gene Silencing in Higher Plants and Related Phenomena in Other Eukaryotes. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 197. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79145-1_3
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