A promoter directing high level expression in pistils of transgenic plants.
The promoter of the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) SK2 gene, encoding a pistil-specific basic endochitinase, was cloned. Various fragments of the SK2-promoter, from 1 kb down to 0.23 kb in length, were fused to the GUS reporter gene. Chimaeric SK2 promoter-GUS fusion constructs were transformed into potato by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. The SK2-GUS transgenic potato plants exhibited a highly specific GUS activity in the pistil. Expression in the pistil was shown to be developmentally regulated. In addition to the GUS activity in pistils, transgenic plants also showed a much weaker ectopic expression in anthers. In other tissues no systematic expression was detectable. All SK2 promoter fragments analysed conferred pistil-specific expression without significant qualitative or quantitative differences, demonstrating that the regulatory elements mediating this expression pattern are located within a 230 bp SK2 promoter fragment. The SK2 promoter may be used to engineer high levels of expression in pistils of transgenic plants.
Ficker
M
M
Max Planck Institut für Züchtungsforschung Carl-von-Linné-Weg 10, Cologne, Germany.
Wemmer
T
T
Thompson
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RD
D002688:Chitinases / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics; D017930:Genes, Reporter / Q000235:genetics; D005966:Glucuronidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000737:chemistry; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*
D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D002688:Chitinases; D005966:Glucuronidase