Isolation and characterization of a flowering plant male gametic cell-specific promoter
Flowering plant male gametic cell-specific gene expression has been reported recently but the regulatory elements controlling specificity of such genes expressed in generative cell and sperm cells have not been identified and studied. Here, we report the 0.8 kb promoter sequence upstream of the star...
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Veröffentlicht in: | FEBS letters 2003-05, Vol.542 (1), p.47-52 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Flowering plant male gametic cell-specific gene expression has been reported recently but the regulatory elements controlling specificity of such genes expressed in generative cell and sperm cells have not been identified and studied. Here, we report the 0.8 kb promoter sequence upstream of the start of the transcription site of the generative cell-specific gene,
LGC1, sufficient to regulate the expression of reporter genes in a cell-specific manner. In addition, the diphtheria toxin A-chain- (DT-A)-coding region under the control of the
LGC1 promoter sequence confirmed unequivocally the lack of
LGC1 expression in vegetative tissues. Transgenic tobacco plants carrying the
LGC1-
DT/
A construct showed normal phenotype except for anthers of these plants that contained sterile and aborted pollen. Truncation and internal deletion analysis of the
LGC1 promoter identified −242 bp as the minimal sequence necessary for male gametic cell-specific expression. In addition, a regulatory sequence required for determining generative cell-specific expression of
LGC1 was identified. Deletion of this regulatory sequence led to loss of the generative cell specificity resulting in activation of this promoter in other tissues where it is normally repressed. Therefore, male gametic cell specificity of the
LGC1 gene seems to be regulated by factors that suppress its activation in other plant cells. This is the first report of a male gametic cell-specific promoter, hence can be used as a novel tool in molecular analyses and experimental manipulation of flowering plant spermatogenesis and fertilization. |
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ISSN: | 0014-5793 1873-3468 |
DOI: | 10.1016/S0014-5793(03)00335-1 |