A sugar beet chlorophyll a/b binding protein promoter void of G-box like elements confers strong and leaf specific reporter gene expression in transgenic sugar beet

• Main Authors: Kloos Dorothee U, Stahl Dietmar J, Hehl Reinhard
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2004-12-01
• Series: BMC Biotechnology
• Online Access: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6750/4/31

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Modification of leaf traits in sugar beet requires a strong leaf specific promoter. With such a promoter, expression in taproots can be avoided which may otherwise take away available energy resources for sugar accumulation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Suppression Subtractive Hybridization (SSH) was utilized to generate an enriched and equalized cDNA library for leaf expressed genes from sugar beet. Fourteen cDNA fragments corresponding to thirteen different genes were isolated. Northern blot analysis indicates the desired tissue specificity of these genes. The promoters for two chlorophyll a/b binding protein genes (Bv<it>cab</it>11 and Bv<it>cab</it>12) were isolated, linked to reporter genes, and transformed into sugar beet using promoter reporter gene fusions. Transient and transgenic analysis indicate that both promoters direct leaf specific gene expression. A bioinformatic analysis revealed that the Bv<it>cab</it>11 promoter is void of G-box like regulatory elements with a palindromic ACGT core sequence. The data indicate that the presence of a G-box element is not a prerequisite for leaf specific and light induced gene expression in sugar beet.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This work shows that SSH can be successfully employed for the identification and subsequent isolation of tissue specific sugar beet promoters. These promoters are shown to drive strong leaf specific gene expression in transgenic sugar beet. The application of these promoters for expressing resistance improving genes against foliar diseases is discussed.</p>