THE PLANT CELL, Vol 4, Issue 4 383-388, Copyright © 1992 by American Society of Plant Biologists
The Pea Ferredoxin I Gene Exhibits Different Light Responses in Pea and Tobacco
M. Gallo-Meagher, D. A. Sowinski and W. F. Thompson
Department of Genetics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695
We monitored Fed-1 (encoding ferredoxin I) mRNA levels in etiolated
transgenic tobacco seedlings containing the intact pea Fed-1 gene to
determine if the characteristic light responses of this gene in pea
seedlings are also observed in transgenic tobacco. Fed-1 transcript levels
in transgenic tobacco seedlings closely paralleled those of the native gene
in pea buds when etiolated seedlings were transferred to white light.
However, the response to red light was much smaller in tobacco than in pea
and was not efficiently reversed by far-red light. The red light response
of endogenous tobacco ferredoxin transcripts is closely comparable to that
of the Fed-1 transgene, with a similar lack of photoreversibility. Thus,
the pea Fed-1 transgene responds normally to tobacco gene-regulatory
factors, but these factors are less influenced by phytochrome in tobacco
cotyledons than in pea buds.
