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wheat gluten gene in transgenic corn



The paper below is about attempts to integrate wheat gluten into corn to
improve the milling and cooking properties of the corn. The technology
seems very threatening to the many people worldwide who suffer from
celiac disease. Even test plots could cause the gluten transgenic corn
to spread to corn crops and commercial production would  be destructive
to celiac sufferers. Corn is used extensively as disguised in foods.
Celiac patients should have a say in spread of gluten corn.
Theor Appl Genet (2002) 105: 937-945
Expression and inheritance of the wheat Glu-1DX5 gene in transgenic maize
V. Sangtong, D. L. Moran, R. Chikwamba1, K. Wang1, W. Woodman-Clikeman,
M. J. Long, M. Lee and M. P. Scott

Abstract. We have produced transgenic maize plants containing a wheat
Glu-1Dx5 gene encoding the high-molecular-weight glutenin subunit 1Dx5.
Analysis by SDS-PAGE showed that a protein similar in size to the wheat
1Dx5 subunit accumulates in the endosperm of transgenic maize from four
independent transformation events. This protein reacts with a monoclonal
antibody specific to the wheat 1Dx5 subunit and was not detected in
nontransgenic controls or in pollen, anthers, leaves or embryos of
plants grown from seeds expressing this protein in endosperm. Genomic
Southern-blot analysis is consistent with results from SDS-PAGE and
indicates that the transgene integration sites are complex and are
different in the four events studied. Using the presence of this protein
as a phenotypic marker, we studied the inheritance of this gene through
three sexual generations. Reciprocal crosses with nontransgenic plants
and self-pollinations were performed, and the resulting kernels were
analyzed for the presence of the 1Dx5 subunit. These data, together with
PCR analysis for the transgene, suggest that the transgene is
inefficiently transmitted through pollen in all four events.

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