The Research of Bt and OC Gene Cotransformation in Tobacco Chloroplast

The Bt Cry IA (C) chloroplast expression cassette and OC chloroplast expression cassette were constructed. The Bt expression cassette contained the 3.5 kb wild type Bt Cry IA (C) gene under the control of the strong light-induced psbA promoter and terminator from rice (Oryza sativa. L) chloroplast, the gene:trnH-psbA-trnk from tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum. L) as the homologous fragment. The OC chloroplast expression cassette contained the OC gene under the control of 16S promoter and terminator from tobacco, the tobacco gene: psbA-ORF512 as homologous fragment. The two cassettes both had the aadA gene expression cassette as the selectable marker. Leaves of tobacco were cotransformed with the particle bombardment method. After selection by spectinomycin, the transformants were obtained. The integration of Bt and OC gene were confirmed by Southern-blotting analysis, and Western-blotting analysis. Proteinase inhibitor assays showed that the Bt and OC gene had expressed. Bioassays showed that the transgenic tobacco had a significant resistance to the larvae of cotton bollworm ( helicoverpa zea ).