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Novel promoters that induce specific transgene expression during the green to ripening stages of tomato fruit development

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Abstract

Fruit-specific promoters have been used as genetic engineering tools for studies on molecular mechanism of fruit development and advance in fruit quality and additional value by increasing functional component. Especially fruit-ripening specific promoters have been well utilized and studied in tomato; however, few studies have reported the development of promoters that act at fruit developing stages such as immature green and mature green periods. In this study, we report novel promoters for gene expression during the green to ripening stages of tomato fruit development. Genes specifically expressed at tomato fruit were selected using microarray data. Subsequent to confirmation of the expression of the selected 12 genes, upstream DNA fragments of the genes LA22CD07, Les.3122.2.A1_a_at and LesAffx.6852.1.S1_at which specifically expressed at fruit were isolated from tomato genomic DNA as promoter regions. Isolated promoter regions were fused with the GUS gene and the resultant constructs were introduced into tomato by agrobacterium-mediated transformation for evaluation of promoter activity in tomato fruit. The two promoters of LA22CD07, and LesAffx.6852.1.S1_at showed strong activity in the fruit, weak activity in the flower and undetectable activity in other tissues. Unlike well-known fruit-ripening specific promoters, such as the E8 promoter, these promoters exhibited strong activity in green fruit in addition to red-ripening fruit, indicating that the promoters are suitable for transgene expression during green to ripening stages of tomato fruit development.

Key message Novel fruit-specific promoters have been identified and are suitable for transgene expression during green to ripening stages of tomato fruit development.

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Abbreviations

GUS:

Beta-d-glucuronidase gene

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Acknowledgments

We thank the members of the Ezura laboratory for helpful discussions. Micro-Tom seeds (TOMJPF00001) were obtained from the National BioResource Project Tomato (NBRP-Tomato). This research was supported through grants from the “Development of Fundamental Technologies for the Production of High-Value Materials Using Transgenic Plants” project of the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry of Japan to H.E. and K.T.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tennodai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8572, Japan

    Kyoko Hiwasa-Tanase, Tadayoshi Hirai & Hiroshi Ezura

  2. Inplanta Innovations Inc., 506, Leading Venture Plaza, 75-1, Ono-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 230-0046, Japan

    Hirofumi Kuroda & Kenichi Takane

  3. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Oosaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Nakaku, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8531, Japan

    Koh Aoki

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  1. Kyoko Hiwasa-Tanase
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  2. Hirofumi Kuroda
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  3. Tadayoshi Hirai
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  4. Koh Aoki
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  5. Kenichi Takane
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  6. Hiroshi Ezura
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Correspondence to Hiroshi Ezura.

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Communicated by H. Ebinuma.

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Hiwasa-Tanase, K., Kuroda, H., Hirai, T. et al. Novel promoters that induce specific transgene expression during the green to ripening stages of tomato fruit development. Plant Cell Rep 31, 1415–1424 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-012-1257-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-012-1257-5

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