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AssigneeSyngenta Limited
InventorsMark X. Caddick, Andrew J. Greenland, Kay V. Riddell, Wolfgang W. Schuch, Arthur B. Tomsett
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The invention relates to a chemically-inducible plant gene expression cassette and to plant cells transformed therewith. The expression cassette is suitable for use in any dicotyledonous or monocotyledonous plant. It comprises a first promoter operatively linked to a regulator sequence which encodes a regulator protein, and an inducible promoter operatively linked to a target gene, the inducible promoter being activated by the regulator protein in the presence of an effective exogenous inducer whereby application of the inducer causes expression of the target gene. The regulator sequence may be derived from the alcR gene, and the inducible promoter may be derived from the alcA gene promoter (both obtainable from Aspergillus nidulans). A chimeric promoter comprising an upstream regulatory region and a heterologous downstream transcription initiation region is also disclosed. The regulatory sequence may be derived from the alcA gene promoter.
A plant cell which contains stably integrated into its genome a gene expression cassette, said gene expression cassette comprising a first promoter operatively linked to a sequence comprising an alcR coding sequence from Aspergillus nidulans and which encodes an ALCR regulator protein, and an inducible promoter from an ALCR-activatable gene, which gene is the alcA gene from Aspergillus nidulans, operatively linked to a target gene, said inducible promoter being activated by the ALCR regulator protein in the presence of an alcohol and/or ketone inducer, so that application of a sufficient amount of a suitable inducer causes expression of the target gene.
A plant tissue comprising a plant cell as claimed in any one of the preceding claims.
A method for controlling plant gene expression comprising transforming a plant cell with a chemically-inducible gene expression cassette which has a first promoter operatively linked to a sequence comprising an alcR coding sequence from Aspergillus nidulans, and which encodes an ALCR regulator protein, and an inducible promoter from an ALCR-activatable gene, which gene is the alcA gene from Aspergillus nidulans, operatively linked to a target gene, said inducible promoter being activated by the ALCR regulator protein in the presence of an alcohol and/or ketone inducer, so that application of a sufficient amount of a suitable inducer causes expression of the target gene.
A plant cell containing a chimeric promoter operatively linked to a target gene, said chimeric promoter comprising an upstream region containing a promoter from an ALCR-activatable alcA gene from Aspergillus nidulans and a downstream region containing a transcription initiation sequence, wherein the upstream region and the downstream region are heterologous and the chimeric promoter is inducible by an alcohol and/or ketone, so that application of a sufficient amount of a suitable inducer, in the presence of the ALCR regulator protein encoded by the alcR gene from Aspergillus nidulans, causes expression of the target gene.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.