Glyphosate is a widely used herbicide that inhibits the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS)-encoding aroA gene in the shikimate pathway. The discovery and cloning of the aroA gene with high resistance is central to breeding a transgenic glyphosate-resistant plant. | Turkish Journal of Biology Research Article Turk J Biol (2018) 42: 187-194 © TÜBİTAK doi: Expression of a bacterial aroA gene confers tolerance to glyphosate in tobacco plants Feng LIU, Yueping CAO* Department of Plant Science, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P. R. China Received: Accepted/Published Online: Final Version: Abstract: Glyphosate is a widely used herbicide that inhibits the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS)-encoding aroA gene in the shikimate pathway. The discovery and cloning of the aroA gene with high resistance is central to breeding a transgenic glyphosate-resistant plant. A novel aroAPantoea gene from Pantoea G-1 was previously isolated and cloned. The aroA Pantoea enzyme was defined as a new class I EPSPS with glyphosate resistance. The aroA Pantoea gene was introduced into tobacco through Agrobacteriummediated transformation. The transgenic tobacco plants were confirmed by PCR, RT-PCR, and Southern blot. The analysis of glyphosate resistance also showed that the transgenic tobacco plants could survive at 15 mM glyphosate; the glyphosate resistance level of the transgenic plants is higher than the agricultural application level recommended by most manufacturers. Overall, this study shows that aroAPantoea can be used as a candidate gene for the development of genetically modified crops. Key words: aroA, glyphosate, Pantoea, tobacco, transformation 1. Introduction As a broad-spectrum herbicide, glyphosate is used to kill most kinds of weeds (Steinrücken and Amrhein, 1980). Glyphosate blocks plant growth by inhibiting 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS; EC ), which is a critical enzyme in the shikimate pathway (Schönbrunn et al., 2001) that is important for the synthesis of aromatic amino acids and a number of secondary metabolites in plants and microorganisms .
