A cis-regulatory sequence from a short intergenic region gives rise to a strong microbe-associated molecular pattern-responsive synthetic promoter

作者：Lehmeyer Mona; Hanko Erik K R; Roling Lena; Gonzalez Lilian; Wehrs Maren; Hehl Reinhard^*

来源：Molecular Genetics and Genomics, 2016, 291(3): 1155-1165.

DOI：10.1007/s00438-016-1173-4

• Bioinformatics
• Databases
• Plant-pathogen interaction
• Synthetic biology
• Transgenic plants
• Transient expression

The high gene density in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves only relatively short intergenic regions for potential cis-regulatory sequences. To learn more about the regulation of genes harbouring only very short upstream intergenic regions, this study investigates a recently identified novel microbe-associated molecular pattern (MAMP)-responsive cis-sequence located within the 101 bp long intergenic region upstream of the At1g13990 gene. It is shown that the cis-regulatory sequence is sufficient for MAMP-responsive reporter gene activity in the context of its native promoter. The 3' UTR of the upstream gene has a quantitative effect on gene expression. In context of a synthetic promoter, the cis-sequence is shown to achieve a strong increase in reporter gene activity as a monomer, dimer and tetramer. Mutation analysis of the cis-sequence determined the specific nucleotides required for gene expression activation. In transgenic A. thaliana the synthetic promoter harbouring a tetramer of the cis-sequence not only drives strong pathogen-responsive reporter gene expression but also shows a high background activity. The results of this study contribute to our understanding how genes with very short upstream intergenic regions are regulated and how these regions can serve as a source for MAMP-responsive cis-sequences for synthetic promoter design.

• 出版日期2016-6