title: Identification and use of the sugarcane bacilliform virus enhancer in transgenic maize.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Transcriptional enhancers are able to increase transcription from heterologous promoters when placed upstream, downstream and in either orientation, relative to the promoter. Transcriptional enhancers have been used to enhance expression of specific promoters in transgenic plants and in activation tagging studies to help elucidate gene function.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A transcriptional enhancer from the Sugarcane Bacilliform Virus - Ireng Maleng isolate (SCBV-IM) that can cause increased transcription when integrated into the the genome near maize genes has been identified. In transgenic maize, the SCBV-IM promoter was shown to be comparable in strength to the maize ubiquitin 1 promoter in young leaf and root tissues. The promoter was dissected to identify sequences that confer high activity in transient assays. Enhancer sequences were identified and shown to increase the activity of a heterologous truncated promoter. These enhancer sequences were shown to be more active when arrayed in 4 copy arrays than in 1 or 2 copy arrays. When the enhancer array was transformed into maize plants it caused an increase in accumulation of transcripts of genes near the site of integration in the genome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The SCBV-IM enhancer can activate transcription upstream or downstream of genes and in either orientation. It may be a useful tool to activate enhance from specific promoters or in activation tagging.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: Vaka
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: Xing L
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Avutu S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.forename: William Michael
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Ainley
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Lakshmi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sastry-Dent
authors.forename: Zehui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Connell
authors.forename: Delkin O
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: Douglas Ry
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D019195:Badnavirus / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D025801:Ubiquitin