Distinct cis-acting elements direct pistil-specific and pollen-specific activity of the Brassica S locus glycoprotein gene promoter.

The promoter of the S Locus Glycoprotein (SLG) gene of Brassica is a tightly regulated promoter that is active specifically in reproductive organs. In transgenic tobacco, this promoter is active exclusively in cells of the pistil and in pollen. We transformed tobacco with truncated versions of the SLG13 promoter fused to the beta-glucuronidase reporter gene. We show that the promoter has a modular organization and consists of separable DNA elements that independently specify pistil- and pollen-specific expression. A 196-bp region (-339 to -143) is sufficient to confer stigma and style specificity to the marker gene. Two distinct, but functionally redundant, domains (-415 to -291 and -117 to -8) allow specific expression of the gene in pollen. The functional domains identified within the SLG13 promoter contain sequence elements that are highly conserved in different alleles of the SLG gene and in the S Locus Related SLR1 gene.