ACP

A widely applicable bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase-directed, tissue-specific and inducible over-expression of foreign genes in transgenic plants was developed. This was achieved through the simultaneous transformation of a modified T7 RNA polymerase to specifically transcribe the foreign gene placed under the control of T7 expression signals. The T7 RNA polymerase recognized the chimeric uid A gene integrated randomly into tobacco and rice genomes. Results from the use of six different promoters with different tissue specificities indicated that the recombinant protein was expressed at a several-fold (3-10-fold) higher level when compared with transgenes expressed directly under the control of these tissue-specific promoters. An important feature of the T7 system in plants was the near-uniform expression in the independently transformed plants, in contrast with the large variations observed in transgene expression under the direct control of plant promoters. In addition, our results..

Primary location: Lincoln United Kingdom