Plant Epidermis-Specific Promoter and Methods of Using Same

Background: Full realization of the potential of many transgenes depends on selective expression in tissues of interest. The following describes a plant promoter isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana that is operative only in the epidermal tissues of plants, and is suitable for driving the expression of genes desired to operate only in this tissue.

Technology Description : A promoter has been isolated from Arabidopsis which upregulates transferred gene expression only in epidermal tissues, and in no others, when placed upstream of a transgene in a construct of interest. The promoter can also be used to identify and recover orthologues in plant species of interest.

Advantages: There are several instances in which selective epidermal expression of foreign genes could prove useful, including: pest resistance, pigmentation, fragrance, wax synthesis, water metabolism or energy metabolism.

State of Development: Epidermal-specific expression driven by this promoter has now been demonstrated in species other than Arabidopsis.

Case Number: SD1999-088

Inquiries To: invent@ucsd.edu