DNA CONSTRUCT COMPRISING THE CHLOROPHYLL A/B (CAB) BINDING PROTEIN GENE FROM ZEA MAYS, FOR THE EXPRESSION OF EXOGENOUS DNA

摘要

The gene promoter which drives expression of the chlorophyll antibody (CAB) protein in the green tissue of plants has been isolated and sequenced enabling use of the promoter, by recombinant DNA techniques, for green tissue specific expression of an exogenous gene by transformation of a plant with the a recombinant DNA in which the CAB promoter is fused to the exogenous gene. Particularly useful applications of the CAB promoter are in the expression of insecticidal toxins, such as a delta -endotoxin of Bacillus thuringiensis, to provide protection of the plant from predation by insects which attack the green tissue, and in the expression of mRNA which is anti sense to mRNA expressed by an endogenous gene so as to suppress translation of the endogenous mRNA to protein.