Characterization of enhancer trap and gene trap harboringAc/Dstransposon in transgenic rice

Insertion mutagenesis has become one of the most popular methods for gene functions analysis. Here we report a two-elementAc/Dstransposon system containing enhancer trap and gene trap for gene tagging in rice. The excision ofDselement was examined by PCR amplification. The excision frequency ofDselement varied from 0% to 40% among 20 F2populations derived from 11 differentDsparents. Southern blot analysis revealed that more than 70% of excisedDselements reinserted into rice genome and above 70% of the reinsertedDselements were located at different positions of the chromosome in rice. The result of histochemical GUS analysis indicated that 28% of enhancer trap and 22% of gene trap tagging plants displayed GUS activity in leaves, roots, flowers or seeds. The GUS positive lines will be useful for identifying gene function in rice.