A promoter is an essential structural component of a gene that controls its transcription activity in different development stages and in response to various environmental stimuli. Knowledge of promoter functionality in heterologous systems is important in the study of gene regulation and biotechnological application. In order to explore the activity of the pepper capsaicin synthase gene (PUN1)...

Promoter sequences of the cytomegalovirus (PCMV), the rous sarcoma virus long terminal repeat (PRSV-LTR) and the cauliflower mosaic virus 35s (PCaMV35s) were ligated with the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene, uidA, and were introduced into cells of the marine diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Transformants were selected on a 100 mg l(-1) Zeocin plate, and Zeocin-resistant clones were further sele...

In cell cultures of carrot (Daucus carota L.), somatic embryogenesis can be induced by transferring cells from a medium containing 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) to one devoid of 2,4-D. Previous analysis of transgenic carrot cells containing the 5' non-coding sequence of the Ri plasmid rolC and a structural gene for bacterial beta-glucuronidase (uidA) has shown that the chimeric gene is...

Post-transcriptional gene silencing is commonly observed in polyploid species and often poses a major limitation to plant improvement via biotechnology. Five plant viral suppressors of RNA silencing were evaluated for their ability to counteract gene silencing and enhance the expression of the Enhanced Yellow Fluorescent Protein (EYFP) or the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene in sugarcane, a ...

Here is reported a novel histological marker line that strongly and specifically labels the male gametophyte in Arabidopsis flowers, from the uninucleate microspore to the pollination stage. In this marker line, the expression of the UidA and GFP marker genes is driven by the promoter of the At5g17340 Arabidopsis gene, a gene highly expressed in the male gametophyte. Strong GUS histochemical st...

BACKGROUND Plasma membrane Ca(2+)ATPase is a transport protein in the plasma membrane of cells and helps in removal of calcium (Ca(2+)) from the cell, hence regulating Ca(2+) level within cells. Though plant Ca(2+)ATPases have been shown to be involved in plant stress responses but their promoter regions have not been well studied. RESULTS The 1478 bp promoter sequence of rice plasma membrane...

To learn more about the function and regulation of small heat shock proteins (sHSPs) during seed development, we studied sHSP expression in wild-type and seed maturation mutants of Arabidopsis by western analysis and using an HSP17.4 promoter-driven beta-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene in transgenic plants. In the absence of stress, GUS activity increases during development until the entire e...

A polyubiquitin clone (ubi7) was isolated from a potato (Solanum tuberosum) genomic library using a copy-specific probe from a stress-induced ubiquitin cDNA. The genomic clone contained a 569-bp intron immediately 5' to the initiation codon for the first ubiquitin-coding unit. Two chimeric beta-glucuronidase (GUS) fusion transgenes were introduced into potato. The first contained GUS fused to a...

Chitinases are the hydrolytic enzymes which belong to the pathogenesis-related (PR) protein family and play an important role not only in plant defense but also in various abiotic stresses. However, only a limited number of chitinase genes have been characterised in B. juncea. In this study, we have characterised B. juncea class IV chitinase gene (accession no EF586206) in response to fungal in...

The sucrose binding protein (SBP) from soybean has been implicated as an important component of the sucrose uptake system. Two SBP genomic clones, gsS641.1 and gsS641.2, which correspond to allelic forms of the GmSBP2/S64 gene, have been isolated and characterized. As a member of the seed storage protein superfamily, it has been shown that the SBP gene structure is similar to vicilin genes with...