Transgenic Leucaena leucocephala expressing the Rhizobium gene pydA encoding a meta-cleavage dioxygenase shows reduced mimosine content

The use of the tree-legume Leucaena leucocephala (leucaena), which contains high levels of proteins in its foliage, is limited due to the presence of the toxic free amino acid mimosine. The goal of this research was to develop transgenic leucaena with reduced mimosine content. Two genes, pydA and pydB, encoding a meta-cleavage dioxygenase (EC 1.13.11.2) and a pyruvate hydrolase (EC 3.7.1.6), respectively, from the mimosine-degrading leucaena symbiont Rhizobium sp. strain TAL1145, were used to transform leucaena. These bacterial genes were sequence-optimized for expression in leucaena and cloned into the plant binary vector pCAMBIA3201 for Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Using immature zygotic embryos as the start explant material, six pydA and three pydB transgenic lines were developed. The presence and expression of the bacterial genes in the transgenic lines were verified by PCR, reverse transcriptase PCR, and Southern analyses. HPLC analyses of the transgenic plants determined that the mimosine contents of the pydA-expressing lines were reduced up to 22.5% in comparison to the wild-type. No significant reduction in mimosine content was observed in the pydB-expressing lines. This is the first example of using a gene from a bacterial symbiont to reduce the toxicity of a tree-legume.