A bacteriophage lytic enzyme gene as a marker for gene transfer and expression

Abstract

The plasmid pBR322 bearing the lytic enzyme gene of colitis bacteriophage was injected into 10 sets of 10 onion bulbs each, at multiple points, and germinated for 7 days. The lytic enzyme was detected in the extracts of 0-60% of the bulbs in each set by turbidometric assay. This lyticenzyme gene can be used as a marker gene for gene transfer in plants and animals and in chimaeric gene constructs to study regulation of gene expression.