Plant Physiol, August 2002, Vol. 129, pp. 1473-1481
High-Level and Ubiquitous Expression of the Rice Cytochrome
c Gene OsCc1 and Its Promoter Activity in
Transgenic Plants Provides a Useful Promoter for Transgenesis of
Monocots1
In-Cheol
Jang,
Won-Bin
Choi,
Kyung-Hee
Lee,
Sang Ik
Song,
Baek Hie
Nahm, and
Ju-Kon
Kim*
Department of Biological Science, Myongji University, Yongin
449-728, Korea
Expression patterns of a rice (Oryza sativa)
cytochrome c gene OsCc1 and its
promoter activity were characterized in transgenic rice plants.
OsCc1 transcripts accumulate in most cell types, but to
varying levels. Large amounts of OsCc1 transcripts are found in the roots, calli, and suspension cells, but relatively lower
in mature leaves, demonstrating its higher levels of expression in
non-photosynthetic tissues. Unlike the human cytochrome
c gene, which is responsive to cAMP,
OsCc1 expression is not enhanced in various rice tissues
after dibutyryl cAMP treatments. OsCc1 promoter was
linked to the sgfp gene and its activities in different tissues and cell types of transgenic rice plants were analyzed in
comparison with the Act1 and RbcS
promoters. OsCc1 promoter directs expression in
virtually all organs of transgenic plants including roots, leaves,
calli, embryos, and suspension cells, showing a particularly high
activity in calli and roots. Activity of the OsCc1
promoter was 3-fold higher than Act1 in calli and roots
and comparable with RbcS in leaves, representing a
useful alternative to the maize (Zea mays)
Ubi1 and the rice Act1 promoters for
transgene expression in monocots.
1
This work was supported by the Ministry of
Science and Technology through the Crop Functional Genomics Center
(grant to J.-K.K.), by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation
through the Plant Metabolism Research Center at Kyung-Hee University
(grant to J.-K.K.), and by the Ministry of Education's Brain Korea 21 Project (fellowships to I.-C.J., K.-H.L., and S.I.S.).
*
Corresponding author; e-mail jukon{at}bio.myongji.ac.kr; fax
82-31-335-8249.
© 2002 American Society of Plant Physiologists
