TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION OF THE
gluB PROMOTER
DURING PLANT RESPONSE TO INFECTION
AGNIESZKA MAC, MAGDALENA KRZYMOWSKA, ANNA BARABASZ
and JACEK HENNIG*
Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences,
Pawi
ñskiego 5A, 02-106 Warsaw, Poland
Abstract:
Several studies suggest that plant hydrolytic enzymes, such as 1,3-b-
glucanases, may be components of a general defense system against pathogen
invasion in several different plant species. We isolated and characterized
a genomic sequence coding for a new acidic 1,3-b-glucanase (gluB) from
Solanum tuberosum
. The 5' flanking region of the gluB gene was also
characterized. A chimeric gene composed of 2998 bp of the promoter sequence
from the gluB gene was fused to the b-glucuronidase (GUS) coding region and
used to transform potato and tobacco plants. Transcriptional activation of the
gluB
promoter was investigated in response to inoculation with Phytophthora
infestans (Pi) or tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). In pathogen inoculated transgenic
plants, GUS activity was strongly induced locally around necrotic lesions.
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