Establishment of highly gene transcriptional regulation mediated by artificial microRNA in soybean

利用大豆内源miRNA前体序列设计人工miRNA (amiRNA)，有效抑制大豆靶基因的表达。所构建的amiRNA前体含有与靶基因转录本互补的序列。为抑制种子贮藏蛋白基因的表达，制备了表达amiRNA的转基因大豆植株。转基因大豆种子中这些基因的表达和贮藏蛋白的积累均显著减少。此外，DDMP皂苷是大豆种子中已知的功能性化合物之一，其糖基转移酶基因的功能通过amiRNA表达系统进行了表征。本研究建立的敲低系统可用于大豆植物基因的功能分析。

Artificial mircoRNA (amiRNA) was designed using the precursor sequence of the endogenous soybean miRNA to suppress the expression of target gene efficiently in soybean plants. The constructed amiRNA precursor contains a complementary sequence to the transcript of target gene. Transgenic soybean plants expressing the amiRNA were generated to suppress the gene expression of seed storage protein. The expression of these genes and accumulation of storage protein were significantly decreased in seeds of transgenic soybean. In addition, the function of glycosyltransferase gene for DDMP saponin, which is known to be one of functional chemical compounds in soybean seeds, was characterized by the amiRNA expression system. I demonstrated that the knock-down system established in this study was useful for the functional analysis of genes in soybean plant.