A BRASSICA S-LOCUS RELATED GENE PROMOTER DIRECTS EXPRESSION IN BOTH POLLEN AND PISTIL OF TOBACCO

A portion (1.5 kb) of the promoter region of an S63 S-locus related (SLR) glycoprotein gene from the sporophytically self-incompatible species Brassica oleracea was inserted upstream of the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene in binary vector pBI101.1. The resulting construct was then introduced into Nicotiana tabacum through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The expression pattern of GUS under the control of the S63 SLR promoter fragment was found to be similar to that already reported for expression of the GUS gene directed by an S-locus specific gene promoter in transgenic N. tabacum. Furthermore, this pattern of expression resembled more closely that reported for S-genes of the self-incompatible species Nicotiana alata, which has a gametophytic self-incompatibility system, than the predicted pattern of expression of S-genes in B. oleracea.