Annals of Biological Research
Abstract
Author(s): G. Shiva Prasad, B. Raju and K. Rajesh Kumar
Intragenic modification in the context of other plant breeding of desired traits from wild germplasm is seriously
affected by linkage drag. It requires several generations of breeding and very time consuming, especially for long
generation period crops and wild sources. These problems would be prevented if only the gene of interest would be
added, leaving the undesired genes in the wild germplasm behind. This is feasible by means of Ã?Æ?Ã?¢Ã?â??Ã?â?¬Ã?â??Ã?Ë?cisgenesisÃ?Æ?Ã?¢Ã?â??Ã?â?¬Ã?â??Ã?â?¢.
Cisgenesis/Intragenesis deploy the same technology as transgenesis. A cisgene contains its native introns and is
flanked by its native promoter and terminator in sense orientation. Cisgenic plants contain solely genes that have
been present in the conventional breederÃ?Æ?Ã?¢Ã?â??Ã?â?¬Ã?â??Ã?â?¢s germplasm. Consequently, cisgenic plants have no extra risks compared
to plants from conventional breeding or mutation breeding. Therefore we propose that cisgenic plants are exempted
from the burden of the GMO regulation. An additional advantage of cisgenesis is that the genetic makeup of the
established cultivars with a history of safe use is maintained. Only a few genes are added. In case of selfincompatible,
heterozygous crops it is impossible to add genes and restore the genetic makeup through cross
breeding. The knowledge of functions and DNA sequences of plant genes of plants is increasing very rapidly.
Cisgenesis is a valuable approach for valorizing this knowledge. We apply cisgenesis to apple and potato in order
to obtain polygenic durable resistance to apple scab and Phytophthora infestans respectively. Also we have
introduced the MdMYB10 transcription factor from apple that upregulates the anthocyanin pathway, leading to redfleshed
apples
