AUTHOR=Chen Zaijie , Cheng Qianqian , Hu Chanquan , Guo Xinrui , Chen Ziqiang , Lin Yan , Hu Taijiao , Bellizzi Maria , Lu Guodong , Wang Guo-Liang , Wang Zonghua , Chen Songbiao , Wang Feng TITLE=A Chemical-Induced, Seed-Soaking Activation Procedure for Regulated Gene Expression in Rice JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science VOLUME=8 YEAR=2017 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2017.01447 DOI=10.3389/fpls.2017.01447 ISSN=1664-462X ABSTRACT=

Inducible gene expression has emerged as a powerful tool for plant functional genomics. The estrogen receptor-based, chemical-inducible system XVE has been used in many plant species, but the limited systemic movement of inducer β-estradiol in transgenic rice plants has prohibited a wide use of the XVE system in this important food crop. Here, we constructed an improved chemical-regulated, site-specific recombination system by employing the XVE transactivator in combination with a Cre/loxP-FRT system, and optimized a seed-soaking procedure for XVE induction in rice. By using a gus gene and an hpRNAi cassette targeted for OsPDS as reporters, we demonstrated that soaking transgenic seeds with estradiol solution could induce highly efficient site-specific recombination in germinating embryos, resulting in constitutive and high-level expression of target gene or RNAi cassette in intact rice plants from induced seeds. The strategy reported here thereby provides a useful gene activation approach for effectively regulating gene expression in rice.