LC AS A NONDESTRUCTIVE VISUAL REPORTER AND TRANSPOSITION EXCISION MARKER GENE FOR TOMATO

The maize anthocyanin regulatory gene Lc gives rise to greatly enhance d anthocyanin accumulation when introduced into tomato. Under the cont rol of the cauliflower mosaic virus promoter Lc was seen to mediate en hanced pigmentation in all vegetative tissues, including roots, under high light (or sunlight) conditions. This paper demonstrates that the gene can be used as a powerful non-destructive cell autonomous visual excision marker which will provide a valuable tool for transposon muta genesis, the study of transposon biology and for studying cell lineage s at the whole-plant level.