Field performance and heavy metal concentrations of transgenic flue-cured tobacco expressing a mammalian metallothionein-β-glucuronidase gene fusion

Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) is a nonessential heavy metal that can cause acute and chronic illness in humans. Some plant species such as tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) tend to accumulate high levels of Cd in leaf tissue, the consumed portion of the plant. Tissue-specific expression of mammalian metallothionein has been suggested as a means of partitioning Cd in nonconsumed portions of transgenic plants. The purpose of the experiment reported here was to evaluate Cd concentration and agronomic performance of four field-grown transgenic tobacco lines harbouring a metallothionein-β-glucuronidase (MG) gene fusion driven by the constitutive 35S promoter of cauliflower mosaic virus. The trial was grown in a region of Canada known to have high background levels of Cd. The agronomic evaluation showed that some of the transgenic lines were equal to, while others performed more poorly than, the untransformed control for yield, days to flower, and leaf number. Gene expression measured by β-glucuronidase activity showed that all of the transgenic lines expressed the MG gene in the upper portion of the plant. One line did not express the MG gene in the roots. Cd levels in the leaf tissue of transformed lines were not significantly different from the untransformed control.Key words: cadmium, β-glucuronidase, transformation, heavy metal tolerance.