Maize Adh-1 promoter sequences control anaerobic regulation: addition of upstream promoter elements from constitutive genes is necessary for expression in tobacco.

The promoter region of a maize alcohol dehydrogenase gene (Adh-1) was linked to a reporter gene encoding chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) and transformed stably into tobacco cells using T-DNA vectors. No CAT enzyme activity could be detected in transgenic tobacco plants unless upstream promoter elements from the octopine synthase gene or the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter were supplied in addition to the maize promoter region. CAT enzyme activity and transcription of the chimaeric gene were then readily detected after anaerobic induction. The first 247 bp upstream of the translation initiation codon of the maize Adh-1 gene were sufficient to impose anaerobic regulation on the hybrid gene and S1 nuclease mapping confirmed mRNA initiation is from the normal maize Adh-1 transcription start point.