Differential regulation of the expression in transgenic tobacco of the gene for beta-glucuronidase under the control of the 5'-upstream regions of two catalase genes from castor bean

Abstract

The regulatory functions of the 5'-flanking regions of two genes for catalase (cat1 and cat2) from castor bean were analyzed in transgenic tobacco plants that carried fusion constructs that included the gene for beta-glucuronidase (GUS) for Escherichia coli. Dry mature seeds from transgenic plants carrying the CAT1-GUS or CAT2-GUS constructs, in which the GUS gene was fused to the 5'-flanking region of cat1 or cat2, respectively, contained significant GUS activity, indicating that the promoters of cat1 and cat2 were active during seed development. GUS activity increased in response to germination in the seeds of transgenic tobacco that carried CAT1-GUS, as well as in those that carried CAT2-GUS. During the post-germinative stage the GUS activity directed by CAT2-GUS increased still further, whereas that directed by CAT1-GUS decreased. The changes in GUS activity in the transgenic tobacco plants that carried CAT1-GUS and CAT2-GUS were similar to the changes in the levels of transcripts of cat1 and cat2, respectively, in castor bean. The results suggest that the expression of cat1 and cat2 in the germinating seeds and post-germinative seedlings is regulated mainly at the level of transcription. However, the distribution of GUS activity among the organs of the transgenic tobacco seedlings and plantlets, which was examined by histochemical staining and by enzymatic assays of tissue extracts, was not identical to that of transcripts of cat1 and cat2 in castor bean. Histochemical analysis also revealed the interesting spatial regulation of the expression of the promoter of cat2 in the transgenic tobacco seedlings.