Anti-sense regulation of gene expression in plant cells

A method for inhibiting expression of an indigenous gene in a plant cell, said method comprising:

• integrating into the genome of said plant cell a construct comprising in the 5'-3' direction of transcription a promoter functional in said plant cell, a dsDNA sequence wherein the transcribed strand of said dsDNA is complementary to at least 15 nt of the translated region of messenger RNA indigenous to said plant cell and a termination region functional in said cell whereby a transformed cell is obtained;
• and
• growing said transformed plant cell, whereby said complementary strand is transcribed and binds to said indigenous messenger RNA and expression of said gene is inhibited.

A DNA construct comprising in the 5'-3' direction of transcription a transcriptional initiation region functional in a plant cell, a dsDNA sequence having as the transcribed strand a sequence complementary to an RNA sequence indigenous to a plant cell, and a transcriptional termination region.

A method for reducing expression of a gene indigenous to a plant cell, said method comprising:

• integrating into the genome of a plant cell a construct comprising in the 5'-3' direction of transcription a promoter functional in said plant cell, a dsDNA sequence wherein the transcribed strand of said dsDNA is complementary to RNA indigenous to said cell, and a termination region functional in said cell whereby a transformed cell is obtained;
• and
• growing said transformed plant cell, whereby said complementary strand is transcribed and binds to said RNA indigenous to said cell, thereby reducing expression of said gene indigenous to said plant cell.

A method for reducing expression of a gene in a plant cell, said method comprising:

• integrating into the genome of said plant cell a construct comprising in the 5'-3' direction of transcription a promoter functional in said plant cell, a dsDNA sequence wherein the transcribed strand of said dsDNA is complementary to at least 15 nt of the translated region of messenger RNA indigenous to said plant cell, and a termination region functional in said cell whereby a transformed cell is obtained;
• and
• growing said transformed plant cell, whereby said complementary strand is transcribed and binds to said indigenous messenger RNA and expression of said gene is reduced.