A METHOD OF OBTAINING HIGH METHIONINE-CONTAINING CORN SEEDS, AND USES THEREOF

摘要

This invention provides methods of obtaining corn seeds having a methionine content of greater than 1.39 percent by weight of total amino acid composition, and which can provide greater than 36 percent of the methionine nutritional requirements of poultry. The high-methionine corn is obtained as the progeny of a parental corn line selected to produce corn containing high levels of methionine-rich 10 kDa zein. Alternatively, the high-methionine corn seed is produced by a corn plant that has been genetically transformed with an expression construct which comprises a seed-functional promoter operably linked to gene encoding a methionine-rich zein protein, an operably linked DNA sequence capable of enhancing the functioning of the promoter, an operably linked DNA sequence capable of stabilizing the zein gene mRNA, and an operably linked DNA sequence capable of enhancing the translation of the zein gene mRNA. The invention further provides a method of determining whether an introduced gene is expressed in maize endosperm tissue, and it also provides a purified antibody specific for a maize high-methionine protein.