title: The upstream Sal repeat-containing segment of Arabidopsis thaliana ribosomal DNA intergenic region (IGR) enhances the activity of adjacent protein-coding genes.
abstract: The sequence containing 'upstream Sal repeats' (USR) from the Arabidopsis thaliana ribosomal DNA intergenic region (IGR) was tested for its influence on the in vivo activity of nearby protein coding genes. On average, the presence of the IGR fragment leads to a four-fold increase in the expression of a reporter gene, beta-glucuronidase, under control of the strong CaMV 35S promoter. With the help of the site-specific cre-lox recombination system, we have also obtained pairs of transgenic lines with or without the USR-containing fragment, both integrated at the same chromosomal position. Results with these transgenic lines, which contain an NPT II (kanamycin resistance) gene under control of the nos promoter as a test gene, confirmed the results obtained with the CaMV 35S-driven GUS gene. Moreover, they show that the IGR sequence can oppose tendencies of gene silencing. We hypothesize that the described effect relates to features of the chromatin structure in the proximity of the upstream Sal repeats.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Botanik der Universität Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schlögelhofer
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Nizhynska
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Feik
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chambon
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Potuschak
authors.forename: Eva-Maria
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Wanzenböck
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schweizer
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bachmair
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005966:Glucuronidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D005966:Glucuronidase