Transposon Ac/Ds-induced chromosomal rearrangements at the rice OsRLG5 locus

Previous studies have shown that pairs of closely-linked Ac/Ds transposable elements can induce various chromosomal rearrangements in plant genomes. To study chromosomal rearrangements in rice, we isolated a line (OsRLG5-161) that contains two inversely-oriented Ds insertions in OsRLG5 (Oryza sativa Receptor like kinase Gene 5). Among approximately 300 plants regenerated from OsRLG5-161 heterozygous seeds, 107 contained rearrangements including deletions, duplications and inversions of various sizes. Most rearrangements were induced by previously identified alternative transposition mechanism. Furthermore, we also detected a new class of rearrangements that contain juxtaposed inversions and deletions on the same chromosome. We propose that these novel alleles were generated by a previously unreported type of alternative transposition reactions involving the 5′ and 3′ termini of two inversely-oriented Ds elements located on the same chromatid. Finally, 11% of rearrangements contained inversions resulting from homologous recombination between the two inverted Ds elements in OsRLG5-161. The high frequency inheritance and great variety of rearrangements obtained suggests that the rice regeneration system results in a burst of transposition activity and a relaxation of the controls which normally limit the transposition competence of individual Ds termini. Together, these results demonstrate a greatly enlarged potential of the Ac/Ds system for plant chromosome engineering.