Expression of orf 256, a wheat mitochondrial gene associated with cytoplasmic male sterility in Escherichia coli [electronic resource].

Includes references.

The presence and expression of the orf256 gene in the hybrid plants between Triticum aestivum (Ta) and T. timopheevi (Tt) leads to cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS). The organization and expression of the orf256 was studied in different wheat lines. The gene is expressed as a 7 kD protein in CMS lines only. In the present work, orf256 was expressed in E. coli to investigate the possible toxicity and processing of ORF256, test if the anti-orf256 antibody used to detect the 7 kD protein responds to the intact ORF256 protein, and the accumulation of enough protein to produce antibody to the entire polypeptide and studying the biological functions of the protein. Three different constructs were designed for the expression in E. coli. Only one construct showed low level of expression at the mRNA and protein level in E. coli. This could be attributed to the sequence features of the orf256 sequence and variations in codon usage among the two systems; wheat and E. coli.

Summary in Arabic.

1