Abstract
White-rot fungi, produce extracellular enzymes such as lignin-peroxidase and laccase for degrading wood materials. The laccase catalyzes reduction of oxygen and the one-electron oxidation of a variety of phenolic substrates. In previous study, we produced transgenic tobacco plants transformed with a fungal laccase gene under CaMV35s promoter. Some of the transgenic plants exhibited higher laccase activity comparing to the wild-type plants. As expected, these plants can remove some phenolic compounds dissolved in hydroponic medium. In contrast, some unexpected phenotypes were observed in the transgenic plants. For example, anther and filament of stamen transformed to petal-like tissues. In some transgenic plants, color of anther turned to brown and the brownish anther failed to dehiscence at maturing stage. Furthermore, unidentified compound was deposited in epidermis and endothecium of the transgenic anther tissue. These results indicate that ectopic expression of laccase gene has biological effect on plant morphogenesis.
