Foreign DNA sequences are received by a wild-type strain of Aspergillus niger after co-culture with transgenic higher plants

Abstract

Different transgenic plants of Brassica napus, Brassica nigra, Datura innoxia and Vicia narbonensis expressing the hph gene under the control of the 35s promoter were co-cultivated with mycelial material of Aspergillus niger in microcosms under sterile conditions. A significantly higher number of hygromycin B-resistant colonies of re-isolated fungi was obtained if compared with co-cultures with non-transgenic plants. The hph gene and other foreign sequences could be detected in some of the resistant strains only for a short time after selection, indicating a rapid loss of foreign DNA. A more stable transgenic strain was obtained after co-culture with transgenic plants of D. innoxia including a high number of hph copies in their genome. DNA with detected pUC sequences was prepared to transform E. coli DH5 alpha. One of the recovered plasmids is shown to include pieces of the plant-transforming vector and a foreign sequence. The 35s-regulated expression of genes is studied in A. niger.

Field Supervisory Test of DREB-Transgenic Populus: Salt Tolerance, Long-Term Gene Stability and Horizontal Gene Transfer

“…Our study is similar to those of Zhang et al [31] and other field tests [32,33]. However, Hoffmann et al [34] showed that an exogenous antibiotic resistance gene in transgenic oilseed rape could be transferred to Aspergillus niger.…”

Intra- and Interspecies Virus Transfer in Aspergilli via Protoplast Fusion

“…Kempken (1995) reported the transfer of a mitochondrial plasmid under seminatural conditions from Ascobolus immersus to Podospora anserina, two fungi which inhabit the same ecological niche. Hoffmann et al (1994) described the transfer of a resistance gene and other foreign sequences to A. niger during coculture with transgenic plants. Interspecies transfer after contact seems therefore possible.…”

Lateral gene transfers and the evolution of eukaryotes: theories and data.

“…LGTs have also been observed between plants and fungi and plants and micro-organisms in ' common garden ' experiments (Bertolla & Simonet, 1999 ;Hoffmann et al, 1994 ;Paget et al, 1998). Finally, yeast have been shown to be transformed by plasmid DNA under ' non-artificial ' starvation conditions (Nevoigt et al, 2000).…”