SUMMARYThe expression and effects of the plant oncogene rolB during in vitro flower and root morphogenesis were investigated. Thin cell layers (TCL) were excised from floral pedicels and from stems of transgenic tobacco plants containing either rolB and the promoter of rolB fused to the GUS reporter gene (BpB-GUS plants) or only this latter construct (pB-GUS plants). Organogenesis and GUS activity were monitored in pedicel and stem TCLs for 30 days under conditions of floral or root neoformation. Both flowering and rhizogenesis are substantially enhanced and more precocious in ro/B-transformed explants than in TCLs from pB-GUS and control plants. Most interestingly, both in flower and in root neoformation, meristemoids are much more numerous and appear sooner in ro/B-transformed tissues. Thus, the efFect of rolB does not seem to be specifically the induction of rooting, but, rather, the promotion of meristem formation, regardless of subsequent differentiation. In addition, we provide evidence that the presence of the gene product of rolB does not alter the pattern and tmiing of expression of the gene.
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