Agrobacterium(LBA4404/pBI1121)을 이용하여 형질전환된 애기장대 (Arabidopsis thaliana)를 대상으로 T2, T3, F3세대에서의 도입된 외래 유전자의 비활성화 현상을 조사하였다. Kanamaycin저항성 개체들의 GUS유전자 발현을 분석한 결과, T2세대에서 조사된 12계통 중 5계통에서 GUS 비활성 개체가 관찰되었다 (GUS유전자 비활성율 2.3%). Multi copy T-DNA 계통을 조사한 결과, GUS 비활성 정도가 더욱 심해짐이 관찰되었다 (5.8%). T3 세대에서 single copy T-DNA 계통들은 1.3%의 GUS 비활성율을 보인 반면, multi-copy T-DNA 계통에서의 비활성율은 12.6%로 급격히 증가하였다. 유사한 현상이 형질전환 식물체와 정상개체를 교배하여 생산된 F2 계통에서도 관찰되었다 (비활성율 9.9%). 본 실험으로 식물체에 도입된 외래 유전자가 후대에서의 전이과정동안 점진적으로 비활성화되고, 이 현상은 multi copy T-DNA 계통에서 훨씬 심각함이 밝혀졌다.
The effect of transgene inactivation in T2, T3 and F2 generations was analyzed in progeny seedlings which had been generated by Agrobacterium (LBA4404/pBI121)-mediated transformation in Arabidopsis thaliana. In a system which investigated in the expression of $eta$-glucuronidase(GUS)gene in kanamycin-resistant (ke $n^{R}$)seedlings, GUS inactivated seedlings were observed in 5 of 12 tested lines of T2 generation and the frequency of GUS inactivation was approximately 2.3%. Lines with multi-copies of T-DNA exhibited severe GUS gene inactivation with the frequency of 5.8% in T2 generation. In T3 generation lines exhibited GUS gene inactivation with the frequency of 1.3%. In contrast, inactivation increased dramatically up to 12.6% in multi-copy T-DNA line. A similar phenomenon was also found in F2 progeny from a transgenic line which had been crossed with wild-type Arabidopsis plant, WS-O (GUS gene inactivation frequency 9.9%). These results indicate that the foreign gene introduced into the plant was inactivated progressively in its transmission during subsequent generations and the transgenic line with multi-copies of T-DNA tended to show more increased inactivation.n.
