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A novel seed protein gene from Vicia faba is developmentally regulated in transgenic tobacco and Arabidopsis plants

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Summary

We have isolated a novel gene, denoted USP, from Vicia faba var. minor, which corresponds to the most abundant mRNA present in cotyledons during early seed development; however, the corresponding protein does not accumulate in cotyledons. The characterized USP gene with its two introns is 1 of about 15 members of a gene family. A fragment comprising 637 bp of 5′ flanking sequence and the total 5′ untranslated region was shown to be sufficient to drive the mainly seed-specific expression of two reporter genes, coding for neomycin phosphotransferase 11 and β-glucuronidase, in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana and Nicotiana tabacum plants. We showed that the USP promoter becomes active in transgenic tobacco seeds in both the embryo and the endosperm, whereas its activity in Arabidopsis is detectable only in the embryo. Moreover, we demonstrated a transient activity pattern of the USP promoter in root tips of both transgenic host species.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zentralinstitut für Genetik und Kulturpflanzenforschung der AdW, 0-4325, Gatersleben, Germany

    Helmut BäUmlein, Istvan Nagy, Ronald Bassfüner & Ulrich Wobus

  2. Laboratorium voor Genetica, Rijksuniversiteit Gent, B-9000, Gent, Belgium

    Wout Boerjan, Marc Van Montagu & Dirk Inzé

  3. Agricultural Biotechnology Center, H-2101, Gödöllö, Hungary

    Istvan Nagy

Authors
  1. Helmut BäUmlein
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  2. Wout Boerjan
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  3. Istvan Nagy
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  4. Ronald Bassfüner
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  5. Marc Van Montagu
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  6. Dirk Inzé
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  7. Ulrich Wobus
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Communicated by J. Schell

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BäUmlein, H., Boerjan, W., Nagy, I. et al. A novel seed protein gene from Vicia faba is developmentally regulated in transgenic tobacco and Arabidopsis plants. Molec. Gen. Genet. 225, 459–467 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00261688

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00261688

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