Specific suppression of long terminal repeat retrotransposon mobilization in plants

Brestovitsky, Anna; Iwasaki, Mayumi; Cho, Jungnam; Adulyanukosol, Natthawut; Paszkowski, Jerzy; Catoni, Marco

Abstract

The tissue culture passage necessary for the generation of transgenic plants induces genome instability. This instability predominantly involves the uncontrolled mobilization of LTR retrotransposons (LTR-TEs), which are the most abundant class of mobile genetic elements in plant genomes. Here, we demonstrate that in conditions inductive for high LTR-TE mobilization, like abiotic stress in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and callus culture in rice (Oryza sativa), application of the reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitor known as Tenofovir substantially affects LTR-TE RT activity without interfering with plant development. We observed that Tenofovir reduces extrachromosomal DNA accumulation and prevents new genomic integrations of the active LTR-TE ONSEN in heat-stressed Arabidopsis seedlings, and transposons of O. sativa 17 and 19 (Tos17 and Tos19) in rice calli. In addition, Tenofovir allows the recovery of plants free from new LTR-TE insertions. We propose the use of Tenofovir as a tool for studies of LTR-TE transposition and for limiting genetic instabilities of plants derived from tissue culture.

Citation

Brestovitsky, A., Iwasaki, M., Cho, J., Adulyanukosol, N., Paszkowski, J., & Catoni, M. (2023). Specific suppression of long terminal repeat retrotransposon mobilization in plants. Plant Physiology, 191(4), 2245-2255. https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac605

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 18, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Dec 30, 2022
• Publication Date: Apr 3, 2023
• Deposit Date: Nov 21, 2023
• Journal: Plant Physiology
• Print ISSN: 0032-0889
• Electronic ISSN: 1532-2548
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 191
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 2245-2255
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/plphys/kiac605
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1945342