Journal of Applied Genetics 45(2), 2004, pp. 127-144

Transgene inheritance in plants

Zhimin YIN, Wojciech PLADER, Stefan MALEPSZY

Abstract: The patterns of transgene inheritance in plants and the possible explanations for non-Mendelian transmission are reviewed. The non-Mendelian inheritance of a transgene has been recorded with a frequency between 10% and 50% in transgenic plants produced either by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation or through particle bombardment. Different effects such as deletion, duplication, rearrangement, repeated sequence recombination as well as gene interaction have been observed for transgenic loci. The nature of the recipient genome, nature of the transgene and the interactions between them seem to contribute to the non-Mendelian segregation of transgenes.

Key words: transgene inheritance, transgene interactions, transgenic plants.

Correspondence: S. MALEPSZY, Department of Plant Genetics, Breeding and Biotechnology, Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Warsaw Agricultural University, ul. Nowoursynowska 166, 02-787 Warszawa, Poland, e-mail: malepszy@alpha.sggw.waw.pl