Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1990 Dec 11;18(23):6767-70.
doi: 10.1093/nar/18.23.6767.

Enhancement of foreign gene expression by a dicot intron in rice but not in tobacco is correlated with an increased level of mRNA and an efficient splicing of the intron

Affiliations
Free PMC article

Enhancement of foreign gene expression by a dicot intron in rice but not in tobacco is correlated with an increased level of mRNA and an efficient splicing of the intron

A Tanaka et al. Nucleic Acids Res. .
Free PMC article

Abstract

The first intron of castor bean catalase gene, cat-1 was placed in the N-terminal region of the coding sequence of the beta-glucuronidase gene (gusA) and the intron-containing gusA was used with the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter. Using this plasmid, pIG221, the effect of the intron on expression of beta-glucuronidase (GUS) activity was examined in transgenic rice calli and plants (a monocotyledon), and transgenic tobacco plants (a dicotyledon). The intron-containing plasmid increased the level of GUS enzyme activity 10 to 40-fold and 80 to 90-fold compared with the intronless plasmid, pBI221, in transgenic rice protoplasts and transgenic rice tissues, respectively. In contrast, the presence of the intron hardly influenced the expression of the GUS activity in transgenic tobacco plants. Northern blot analysis showed that the catalase intron was efficiently spliced in rice cells while transgenic tobacco plants contained both spliced and unspliced gusA transcripts in equal amounts. Furthermore, the level of the mature gusA transcript in transformed rice calli was greatly increased in the presence of the intron. The catalase intron was removed at the same splice junctions in transgenic rice and tobacco plants. These findings indicate that the stimulating effect of the intron on GUS expression is correlated with an efficient splicing of pre-mRNA and an increased level of mature mRNA.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Gene. 1983 Nov;25(2-3):263-9 - PubMed
    1. Nucleic Acids Res. 1985 Jun 11;13(11):3791-804 - PubMed
    1. Nature. 1989 Nov 16;342(6247):243-7 - PubMed
    1. Mol Gen Genet. 1990 Jul;222(2-3):361-8 - PubMed
    1. Plant Cell. 1990 Feb;2(2):163-71 - PubMed

MeSH terms