New cellular T-DNAs in naturally transgenic plants
Pavel Yu. Lipatov , Fedor D. Bogomaz , Konstantin D. Gosudarev , Sofya A. Kondrashova , Maxim V. Kuchevsky , Nikita L. Malyuga , Egor V. Myagkiy , Marta V. Sergeenkova , Valeria R. Tverdokhlebova , Anna D. Shtina , Tatiana V. Matveeva , Galina V. Khafizova
Ecological Genetics ›› : 40 -41.
Naturally transgenic plants represent the result of Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer. T-DNA of soil bacteria Agrobacterium integrated into plant’s genome is called cellular T-DNA (cT-DNA) [1]. Today, more than 50 species of naturally transgenic plants, or natural GMO (nGMO) are known [2, 3]. The function of cT-DNA in plants remains unknown. It is assumed that the fixation of transgenes could give plants different selective advantages depending on which genes had been integrated into the plant [4]. In order to clarify this issue, it is necessary to study more naturally transgenic plants. Until recently, the list of nGM plants contained less than 2 dozen species, but a search through genomic and transriptomic sequencing data made it possible to more than double this list [2]. In this work, we used the same approach, looking for cT-DNA genes in whole genome sequencing data that have appeared in the NCBI WGS since 2021. We found 14 new species of naturally transgenic plants, among which the most extended cT-DNAs were found in Triadica sebifera, Lonicera japonica, and Lonicera maackii. The cT-DNAs in these species are organized as imperfect inverted repeats. In the genomes of the species Paulownia fortunei, Apocynum venetum, Elaeagnus angustifolia, Erythroxylum havanense, E. densum, E. daphnites, E. cataractarum, Ceriops decandra, Camellia oleifera, Silene uniflora, short cT-DNAs containing only opine synthesis genes were found. We also estimated the approximate age of the cT-DNAs. The first described examples date back to the Late Paleogene, and the process continues to the present. Thus, we can conclude that natural GMOs are a widespread phenomenon, many aspects of which remain unclear, requiring additional research on the topic.
The article was made with support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation in accordance with agreement No. 075-15-2022-322 dated 22.04.2022 on providing a grant in the form of subsidies from the federal budget of the Russian Federation. The grant was provided for state support for the creation and development of a world-class scientific center, “Agrotechnologies for the Future”.
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White FF, Garfinkel DJ, Huffman GA, et al. Sequences homologous to Agrobacterium rhizogenes T-DNA in the genomes of uninfected plants. Nature. 1983;3012:348–350. DOI: 10.1038/301348a0 |
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Matveeva TV, Otten L. Widespread occurrence of natural genetic transformation of plants by Agrobacterium. Plant Mol Biol. 2019;101:415–437. DOI: 10.1007/s11103-019-00913-y |
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Matveeva TV. New naturally transgenic plants: 2020 update. Biol Commun. 2021;66(1): 36–46. DOI: 10.21638/spbu03.2021.105 |
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Matveeva TV. Why do plants need agrobacterial genes? Ecological genetics. 2021;19(4):365–375. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.17816/ecogen89905 |
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