Application of a novel phosphinothricin N-acetyltransferase (RePAT) gene in developing glufosinate-resistant rice

Currently, only few glufosinate-resistant genes are available for commercial application. Thus, developing novel glufosinate-resistant genes with commercial feasibility is extremely important and urgent for agricultural production. In this study, we transferred a newly isolated RePAT gene into a japonica rice variety Zhonghua11, resulting in a large number of independent T-0 transgenic plants, most of which grew normally under high-concentration glufosinate treatment. Four transgenic plants with one intact RePAT expression cassette integrated into the intergenic region were selected. Agronomic performances of their T-2 progenies were investigated, and the results suggested that the expression of RePAT had no adverse effect on the agronomic performance. Definite glufosinate resistance of the selected transgenic plants was further confirmed to be related to the expression of RePAT by assay on the medium and qRT-PCR. The inheritance and expression of RePAT in two transgenic plants were confirmed to be stable. Finally, the two-year field assay of glufosinate resistance suggested that the agronomic performance of the transgenic plant (PAT11) was not affected by high dosage of glufosinate (5000 g/ha). Collectively, our study proves the high resistance of a novel gene RePAT to glufosinate and provides a glufosiante-resistant rice variety with agricultural application potential.