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The gene promoter for a bean abscission cellulase is ethylene-induced in transgenic tomato and shows high sequence conservation with a soybean abscission cellulase

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Abstract

Bean leaf abscission (organ separation) correlates with thede novo accumulation of a pI 9.5 cellulase and its mRNA. Overlapping genomic clones encoding the bean abscission cellulase (BAC) were isolated and partially sequenced. In addition, a genomic clone for a soybean abscission cellulase (SAC) was identified and the sequence compared to the BAC genomic sequence. Two 5′-upstream regions are particularly well conserved in the two sequences. Of special interest here is the region between −1 and −200 in the BAC promoter which is highly conserved in the SAC gene. Particle gun bombardment with a BAC promoter construct containing 210 bp of BAC sequence 5′ to the transcription start site was sufficient to drive abscission-specific and ethylene and auxin-regulated transient expression in bean. In addition to the transient expression assay, expression was examined in stably transformed tomato. A similar −210 bp BAC promoter construct supported a low level of ethylene-inducible reporter gene expression in tomato leaf abscission zones and adjacent petioles but not in ethylene-treated stem tissue or fruit. Expression from the −210 promoter in tomato abscission zones was inhibited by silver thiosulfate, an ethylene action inhibitor, and was partially inhibited by treatment with auxin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Molecular Biology Lab, USDA/ARS, Bldg. 006, BARC-West, 20705, Beltsville, MD, USA

    Susan M. Koehler, Elizabeth C. Kemmerer & Mark L. Tucker

  2. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, 17033, Hershey, PA, USA

    Gail L. Matters

  3. National Botanical Research Institute, 226-001, Lucknow, India

    Pravendra Nath

Authors
  1. Susan M. Koehler
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  2. Gail L. Matters
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  3. Pravendra Nath
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  4. Elizabeth C. Kemmerer
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  5. Mark L. Tucker
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The first two authors (S.M.K. and G.L.M.) share equally in the credit and responsibility for the work presented in this article.

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Koehler, S.M., Matters, G.L., Nath, P. et al. The gene promoter for a bean abscission cellulase is ethylene-induced in transgenic tomato and shows high sequence conservation with a soybean abscission cellulase. Plant Mol Biol 31, 595–606 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00042232

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00042232

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