Studies on the sensitivity of Spirulina platensis to antibiotics and herbicide: relationship with selectable markers for genetic transformation

The cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis was tested for sensitivity to 6 anti biotics: kanamycin (Km), neomycin (Neo), geneticin (G418), ampicillin (Ap), chloramphenicol (Cm), hygromycin (Hm) and to 1 herbicide: L-phosphinothric in (PPT), all of which are frequently applied as selectable markers in plan t gene engineering. Growth tests, carried out at different concentrations o f the agents above, showed that S. platensis was sensitive to Hm, Cm and PP T, while highly resistant to Km, Neo, G418 and Ap, indicating that Hm, Cm a nd PPT were potent inhibitors of S. platensis growth and able to be employe d as selectable markers for further transformation studies for this alga. ( C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.