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Seed-specific activity of the Arabidopsis β-glucosidase 19 promoter in transgenic Arabidopsis and tobacco

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Abstract

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The promoter of the Arabidopsis thaliana β-glucosidase 19 gene directs GUS expression in a seed-specific manner in transgenic Arabidopsis and tobacco.

Abstract

In the present study, an 898-bp putative promoter of the Arabidopsis β-glucosidase 19 (AtBGLU19) gene was cloned. The bioinformatics analysis of the cis-acting elements indicated that this putative promoter contains many seed-specific elements, such as RY elements. The features of this promoter fragment were evaluated for the capacity to direct the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene in transgenic Arabidopsis and tobacco. Histochemical and fluorometric GUS analyses of transgenic Arabidopsis plants revealed that the AtBGLU19 promoter directed strong GUS activity in late-maturing seeds and dry seeds, whereas no GUS expression was observed in other organs. The results indicated that the AtBGLU19 promoter was able to direct GUS expression in a seed-specific manner in transgenic Arabidopsis. In tobacco, the intensity of the staining and the level of GUS activity were considerably higher in the seeds than in the other tissues. These results further confirmed that the AtBGLU19 promoter is seed specific and can be used to control transgene expression in a heterologous plant system.

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Abbreviations

AtBGLU19 :

Arabidopsis β-glucosidase 19

GUS:

β-Glucuronidase

CaMV 35S :

Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S

PZmUbi :

Maize ubiquitin promoter

CaSMP :

Coffea arabica Seed maturation protein gene

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

X-gluc:

5-Bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-d-glucuronide

MUG:

4-Methylumbelliferyl-β-d-galactopyranoside

4-MU:

4-Methylumbelliferone

BSA:

Bovine serum albumin

PlantCARE:

Plant cis-acting regulatory element

PLACE:

Plant cis-acting regulatory DNA elements

SEF3:

Soybean embryo factor 3 binding site

SEF4:

Soybean embryo factor 4 binding site

ESP:

Endosperm specificity palindrome

TAIR:

The Arabidopsis Information Resource

AsGlo1 :

Oat 12S globulin gene

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by grants from National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31670270).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Science, Qufu Normal University, Qufu, 273165, China

    Shijuan Liu, Changju Liu, Xue Wang & Huiqing Chen

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  1. Shijuan Liu
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  2. Changju Liu
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  3. Xue Wang
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  4. Huiqing Chen
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Contributions

LSJ designed the research; LSJ, LCJ, WX and CHQ performed the research and analyzed the data; LSJ wrote the paper. All of the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shijuan Liu.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Communicated by Chunhai Dong.

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Liu, S., Liu, C., Wang, X. et al. Seed-specific activity of the Arabidopsis β-glucosidase 19 promoter in transgenic Arabidopsis and tobacco. Plant Cell Rep 40, 213–221 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-020-02627-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-020-02627-8

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