High-level expression of maize phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in transgenie rice plants

Using an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system, we have introduced the intact gene of maize phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), which catalyzes the initial fixation of atmospheric CO₂ in C₄ plants into the C₃ crop rice. Most transgenic rice plants showed high-level expression of the maize gene; the activities of PEPC in leaves of some transgenic plants were two- to threefold higher than those in maize, and the enzyme accounted for up to 12% of the total leaf soluble protein. RNA gel blot and Southern blot analyses showed that the level of expression of the maize PEPC in transgenic rice plants correlated with the amount of transcript and the copy number of the inserted maize gene. Physiologically, the transgenic plants exhibited reduced O₂ inhibition of photosynthesis and photosynthetic rates comparable to those of untransformed plants. The results demonstrate a successful strategy for installing the key biochemical component of the C₄ pathway of photosynthesis in C₃ plants.