title: Identification of fungus-responsive cis-acting element in the promoter of Brassica juncea chitinase gene, BjCHI1.
abstract: Chitinases are a group of pathogenesis-related proteins. The Brassica juncea chitinase gene BjCHI1 is highly inducible by pathogenic fungal infection, suggesting that the promoter of BjCHI1 might contain specific cis-acting element responsive to fungal attack. To identify the fungus-responsive element in BjCHI1 promoter (BjC-P), a series of binary plant transformation vectors were constructed by fusing the BjC-P or its deletion-derivatives to β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. Expression of the GUS reporter gene was systematically assayed by a transient gene expression system in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves treated with fungal elicitor Hexa-N-Acetyl-Chitohexaose, as well as in transgenic Arabidopsis plants inoculated with fungus Botrytis cinerea. The histochemical and quantitative GUS assays showed that the W-box-like element (GTAGTGACTCAT) in the region (-668 to -657) was necessary for the fungus-response, although there were another five W-box-like elements in BjC-P. In addition, gain-of-function analysis demonstrated that the fragment (-409 to -337) coupled to the W-box-like element was needed for full magnitude of the fungal induction. These results revealed the existence of a novel regulation mechanism of W-box-like element involved in plant pathogenic resistance, and will benefit the potential application of BjC-P in engineering crops.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100081, PR China; College of Life Science, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, Heibei, PR China.
authors.forename: Xin-Li
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Zan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Xue-Feng
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Beijing Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, PR China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024, Heibei, PR China.
authors.forename: Yu-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Shuang-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture, National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing 100081, PR China. Electronic address: zhaokaijun@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Kai-Jun
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D020171:Botrytis; D002688:Chitinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D060467:Disease Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005966:Glucuronidase / Q000235:genetics; D009149:Mustard Plant / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D009844:Oligosaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D009844:Oligosaccharides; D010940:Plant Proteins; C056529:N-acetylchitohexaose; D002688:Chitinases; D005966:Glucuronidase
keywords: Fungal elicitor; Inducible promoter; Transient expression; W-box-like; cis-Acting element