Isolation and Characterization of E11 Gene Promoter from Tomato

A fragment of 2 000 bp upstream sequence of E11 clone was amplified from genomic DNA of the tomato cultivar Zhongshu-5. Sequence analysis showed that the upstream contains the regulatory elements: TATA box (−29 – −22), CAAT box (−193 – −189), wound, and drought response elements. Expression vectors of E11 promoter gus fusion were constructed with the promoters of 1 200 and 2 000 bp regions, respectively. Transgenic tomato plants were obtained through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Histochemical analysis of GUS activity in various tissues showed that the two promoters were able to direct fruit-specific gene expression. The expression driven by promoter of 2 000 bp upstream fragment could increase GUS activity with the maturation of tomato fruits. The promoter of −1 200 bp fragment could direct gus gene expression in fruits with the inductions of drought and wounding. The regulatory region for fruit-specificity was probably located in the region of 1 200 bp of 5′-flanking sequence and some positive regulatory elements or enhancers may exist in the region from −1 200 to −2 000 bp.