Transformed Arabidopsis plants were used to study the effect of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) inclusion body protein on translation of dicistronic RNA. Reporter plants contain a dicistronic transcription unit with CaMV open reading frame VII (ORF VII) as the first and the [beta]-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter ORF as the second cistron. "Transactivator plants" contain CaMV ORF VI under the c...

To obtain stable expression of a foreign gene, it is important to have optimized conditions for plant genetic transformation. Here, a GUS intron-containing gene driven by CaMV 35S promoter was used to optimize the conditions of biolistic transformation of banana immature embryos and also for the study of GUS localization in the transformed cells. The GUS activity detected histochemically and fl...

To study the role of matrix-associated regions (MARs) in establishing independent chromatin domains in plants, two transgenes were cloned between chicken lysozyme A elements. These transgenes were the neomycin phosphotransferase (NPTII) gene under control of the nopaline synthase (nos) promoter and the [beta]-glucuronidase (GUS) gene controlled by the double cauliflower mosaic virus (dCaMV) 35S...

Mutant alleles of two genetic regulatory elements, which underlie a three- to sixfold reduction in beta-glucuronidase (GUS) activity levels, distinguish mice of the H haplotype from those of the other two common GUS haplotypes, A and B. Both elements are tightly linked to the GUS structural gene over which they exert control. One (Gus-u) exerts a cis-active effect upon GUS activity levels in al...

We have investigated the core promoter structure of the oomycete Phytophthora infestans. The transcriptional start sites (TSS) of three previously characterized P. infestans genes, Piexo1, Piexo3, and Piendo1, were determined by primer extension analyses. The TSS regions were homologous to a previously identified 16-nucleotide (nt) core sequence that overlaps the TSS in most oomycete genes. The...

Expression analyses of genes encoding sulfur-rich 10 kDa rice prolamins have not been reported to date although the entire genome of the model monocot plant has been sequenced in recent years. We isolated a 10 kDa rice prolamin gene, RP10, by genomic PCR, and the gene was registered in GenBank under the accession number AF294580. Genomic Southern-blot and bioinformatic study revealed that genes...

β-glucuronidase (GUS) is a useful reporter for the evaluation of promoter characteristics in transgenic plants. Here, we introduce an original technique to quantify the strength of promoters at subtissue resolution of cell clusters. The method combines cryotomy, laser microdissection, and improved fluorometric analysis of GUS activity using 6-chloro-4-methylumbelliferyl-β-D-glucuronide as an ef...

Drought is one of the most significant abiotic stresses that influence plant growth and development. Expression analysis revealed that OsNRT1.3, a putative nitrate transporter gene in rice, was induced by drought. To confirm if the OsNRT1.3 promoter can respond to drought stress, a 2019 bp upstream sequence of OsNRT1.3 was cloned. Three OsNRT1.3 promoter fragments were generated by 5'-deletion,...

A gene-trapping vector carrying a GUS/Luciferase dual reporter gene was developed to establish an efficient and convenient screening system for T-DNA-based gene trapping in plants. A key feature of this gene trap scheme is to place two different types of reporters, luciferase (Luc) and beta-glucuronidase (GUS), as a fusion protein within a trapped gene to probe the activity of the gene. Luc is ...

Different regulatory elements function are involved in plant virus gene expression and replication by long-distance RNA-RNA interactions. A cap-independent functional element of the Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) - like translational enhancer (BTE) is present in Tobacco necrosis virus A (TNV-A), a Necrovirus member in the Tombusviridae family. In this paper, an RNA stretch flanking the 5' pro...