Expression of a rice chitinase gene in transgenic banana ('Gros Michel', AAA genome group) confers resistance to black leaf streak disease.

Transgenic banana (Musa acuminata 'Gros Michel') integrating either of two rice chitinase genes was generated and its resistance to Black Leaf Streak disease caused by the fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis was tested using a leaf disk bioassay. PCR screening indicated the presence of the hpt selectable marker gene in more than 90 % of the lines tested, whereas more than three quarters of the lines contained the linked rice chitinase gene resulting in a co-transformation frequency of at least 71.4 %.

Characterization and isolation of a T-DNA tagged banana promoter active during in vitro culture and low temperature stress.

Background: Next-generation transgenic plants will require a more precise regulation of transgene expression, preferably under the control of native promoters. A genome-wide T-DNA tagging strategy was therefore performed for the identification and characterization of novel banana promoters. Embryogenic cell suspensions of a plantain-type banana were transformed with a promoterless, codon-optimized luciferase (luc+) gene and low temperature-responsive luciferase activation was monitored in real time.

Improved T-DNA vector for tagging plant promoters via high-throughput luciferase screening.

Transferred DNA (T-DNA) tagging is a powerful tool for tagging and in planta characterization of plant genes on a genome-wide scale. An improved promoter tagging vector is described here, which contains the codon-optimized luciferase (luc+) reporter gene 31 bp from the right border of the T-DNA. Compared to the wild-type luciferase gene, this construct provides significantly increased reporter gene expression and a 40 times higher tagging frequency.

Influence of exonic polymorphisms in the gene for LDL receptor-related protein (LRP) on risk of coronary artery disease.

The low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein (LRP) is a multifunctional receptor involved in numerous biological processes relevant to vascular biology including lipoprotein metabolism. Several polymorphisms in the LRP gene have been described and in this study we examined their influence on coronary artery disease (CAD). We compared the frequencies of the exon 3 (C766T), exon 6 (C663T), exon 22 (C200T), and four rarer and more recently described polymorphisms in approximately 600 Caucasian subjects aged <50 years with angiographic CAD and approximately 700 similarly aged subjects without symptomatic CAD randomly selected from the community.

Functional expression of murine LRP1 requires correction of Lrp1 cDNA sequences.

Here, we describe the reconstruction of a functional 14 kbp full-length murine Lrp1 cDNA from overlapping partial cDNAs, which were described before [Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1173 (1993) 71].

Neuronal deficiency of presenilin 1 inhibits amyloid plaque formation and corrects hippocampal long-term potentiation but not a cognitive defect of amyloid precursor protein [V717I] transgenic mice.

In the brain of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients, neurotoxic amyloid peptides accumulate and are deposited as senile plaques. A major therapeutic strategy aims to decrease production of amyloid peptides by inhibition of gamma-secretase. Presenilins are polytopic transmembrane proteins that are essential for gamma-secretase activity during development and in amyloid production.