Technical advance: stringent control of transgene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana using the Top10 promoter system

We show that the tightly regulated tetracycline-sensitive Top10 promoter system (Weinmann et al. Plant J. 1994, 5, 559-569) is functional in Arabidopsis thaliana. A pure breeding A. thaliana line (JL-tTA/8) was generated which expressed a chimeric fusion of the tetracycline repressor and the activation domain of Herpes simplex virus (tTA), from a single transgenic locus. Plants from this line were crossed with transgenics carrying the ER-targeted green fluorescent protein coding sequence (mGFP5) under control of the Top10 promoter sequence. Progeny from this cross displayed ER-targeted GFP fluorescence throughout the plant, indicating that the tTA-Top10 promoter interaction was functional in A. thaliana. GFP expression was repressed by 100 ng ml-1 tetracycline, an order of magnitude lower than the concentration used previously to repress expression in Nicotiana tabacum. Moreover, the level of GFP expression was controlled by varying the concentration of tetracycline in the medium, allowing a titred regulation of transgenic activity that was previously unavailable in A. thaliana. The kinetics of GFP activity were determined following de-repression of the Top10:mGFP5 transgene, with a visible ER-targeted GFP signal appearing from 24 to 48 h after de-repression.