Isolation and Characterization of 2-methyl-6-phytyl-1, 4-benzoquinol Methyltransferase Gene Promoter from Arabidopsis thaliana
拟南芥2-甲基-6-叶绿基-1,4-苯醌甲基转移酶启动子的分离及表达特性分析

Vitamin E, or tocopherol, is a lipid-soluble antioxidant and essential for human health. 2-methyl-6-phytyl-1, 4-benzo- quinol methyltransferase (MPBQ MT), one of the key enzymes in vitamin biosynthetic pathway in plants, converts 2-methyl- 6-phytyl-1,4-benzoquinol(MPBQ) to 2,3-dimethyl-6-phytyl-1,4-benzoquinol (DMPBQ).In this study, we isolated the 1018bp promoter of Arabidopsis MPBQ MT gene. The promoter was fused with GUS reporter gene and this expression cassette was introduced into wild Arabidopsis by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. GUS staining shows that GUS gene was expressed in stems, leaves, calyxes, stamens and siliques in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, with higher expression in green tissue such as stems, leaves, siliques, while invisible in roots, petals, and seeds. The data indicate that MPBQ MT gene promoter was likely to be expressed preferentially in green tissues such as stems, leaves, and young siliques.