Efficacy of an intron-containing kanamycin resistance gene as a selectablemarker in plant transformation

In this project we have analysed the use of an intron-containing neomycin p hosphotransferase II nptII - gene. The advantage of this construct is that only eukaryotic organisms will be able to process this gene. Accordingly, t he theoretical risk of horizontal gene flow of antibiotic resistance genes from transgenic plants to enteric bacteria is eliminated. The ST-LS1 intron IV2 from potato was inserted into the coding region of nptII Transformatio n of Solanum tuberosum (potato) and Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco) with constr ucts containing the intron nptII showed similar transformation frequencies to transformation with constructs containing the normal nptII. Analysis of total DNA and RNA confirmed that the intron-containing nptII gene was prese nt in the plants and that the mRNA was processed correctly.