Isolation and Characterization of 2-Methyl-6-Phytyl-1,4-Benzoquinol Methyltransferase Gene Promoter from Arabidopsis thaliana

Vitamin E (tocopherol), a lipid-soluble antioxidant and essential for human health. 2-methyl-6-phytyl-1, 4-benzo- quinol methyltransferase (MPBQ MT), is one of the key enzymes in vitamin E biosynthetic pathway in plants. It converts MPBQ to 2,3-dimethyl-6-phytyl-1,4-benzoquinol. In this work, the 1018 bp promoter of Arabidopsis MPBQ MT gene was isolated. The promoter was fused with GUS reporter gene and this expression cassette was introduced into wild Arabidopsis by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. GUS staining showed that the GUS gene was expressed in stems, leaves, calyxes, stamens, and siliques in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, with higher expression in green tissues such as stems, leaves, siliques, while invisible in roots, petals, and seeds. The data indicated that MPBQ MT gene promoter was likely to be expressed preferentially in green tissues such as stems, leaves, and young siliques.