University of California

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Judy Callis

Richard David Vierstra

Cathy K Worley

David Hondred

The present invention provides isolated nucleic acid molecules comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding a primary auxin response protein degradation signal linked to a heterologous eukaryotic polynucleotide sequence encoding a target polypeptide. Also provided are transgenic plants comprising an expression cassette comprising a polynucleotides of the invention. The invention further provides methods of targeting a recombinantly expressed target polypeptide in a plant for degradation.

Sequences from auxin-induced gene products targeting fusion proteins for degradation

Ubiquitin is an abundantly expressed protein in all eukaryotic organisms. A gene for plant ubiquitin, isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana, has been used in a plant expression vector to produce a ubiquitin-protein fusion. Natural factors in the plant cleave such a fusion protein to release ubiquitin and the desired protein. It has been found that such fusions result in protein expression levels higher than those that can be obtained from expression of the protein alone.

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Davis, CA, United States of America

Judy Callis