Molecular Analysis of Transgenic Rice

It makes little sense to invest time and effort in assaying biological activities of transgenic plants if the plants do not contain a functional gene of interest. Although this appears to be self-evident, many investigators attempt to use biological assays for the presence of the gene of interest prior to conducting informative molecular characterization of transgenic plants. Where facile tests are available, such as those for β-glucuronidase (GUS) activity, this may be feasible. However, low levels of activity frequently make simple biochemical screening approaches unreliable. Of the several analytical techniques available, we have chosen to describe methods for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genomic DNA blot analysis: methods that are fundamental for confirming and characterizing gene insertion.