Abstract
In plants, the frequency of spontaneous intrachromosomal homologous recombination is low. Here, we show that a maize transposable element greatly stimulates intrachromosomal homologous recombination between direct repeat sequences in Arabidopsis. Plants were transformed with a construct (GU-Ds-US) containing a Ds (Dissociation) transposable element inserted between two partially deleted GUS reporter gene segments. Homologous recombination between the overlapping GUS fragments generates clonal sectors visible upon staining for GUS activity. Plants containing the GU-Ds-US construct and a source of Ac (Activator) transposase showed an over 1000-fold increase in the incidence of recombination relative to plants containing the same construct but lacking transposase. Transposon-induced recombination was observed in vegetative and floral organs, and several germinally transmitted events were recovered. Transposon-induced recombination appears to be a general phenomenon in plants, and thus may have contributed to genome evolution by inducing deletions between repeated sequences.
Similar content being viewed by others
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Received: 28 September 1999 / Accepted: 19 November 1999
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xiao, YL., Peterson, T. Intrachromosomal homologous recombination in Arabidopsis induced by a maize transposon. Mol Gen Genet 263, 22–29 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00008672
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00008672