TOMATO DNA SEQUENCES FOR RESISTING TRANSGENE SILENCING IN SUGARCANE

摘要

One of the obstacles for the genetic engineering of sugarcane is transgene silencing. We have cloned expression modulating sequences (EMSs) from tomato that have the potential to stabilise transgene expression. The EMSs were inserted next to a transgene that is normally silenced in sugarcane. Interestingly, the modified transgenes appeared to resist silencing in some transgenic lines. Southern analysis showed that transgene expression or silencing was not correlated to transgene copy number. One EMScorresponded to the promoter of an alpha amylase gene in tomato, and we show that this promoter is capable of driving high-level transgene expression in sugarcane.