XVI International Botanical Congess

The promoter of the maize glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 4 gene (GapC4) confers strong, specific, and ubiquitous anaerobic reporter gene expression in tobacco. Reporter gene analysis with promoter deletions in transgenic tobacco suggest that anaerobic induction is mediated by a region of about 190 base pairs of the GapC4 promoter. Gel shift assays with potential cis-acting sequences reveal a high mobility complex that is formed with nuclear extracts from aerobic and anaerobic leaf tissue while an additional low mobility complex is anaerobiosis specific. The formation of the high mobility complex requires the sequence GTGGGCCCG. Extensive gel shift and competition assays failed to identify particular binding sites required to form the anaerobiosis specific low mobility complex. Progress towards isolation of trans-acting factors will be presented.