Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, As Represented by the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-food

Peijun Zhang

Brian Miki

Jiro Hattori

Keqiang Wu

Teresa Martin-Heller

Elizabeth Foster

Lining Tian

Kamal Malik

Thérèse Ouellet

Th&eacute;r&egrave;se Ouellet

Daniel Charles William Brown

Hélène Labbé

Daniel C Brown

Raymond Tropiano

David A Theilmann

T-DNA tagging with a promoterless &#x3b2;-glucuronidase (GUS) gene generated transgenicplants that expressed GUS activity either only in developing seed coats, or constitutively. Cloning and deletion analysis of the GUS fusion revealed that the promoter responsible for seed coat specificity was located in the plant DNA proximal to the GUS gene. Analysis of the region demonstrated that the seed coat-specificity of GUS expression in this transgenic plant resulted from T-DNA insertion next to a cryptic promoter. This promoter is useful in controlling the expression of genes to the developing seed coat in plant seeds. Similarly, cloning and characterization of the cryptic constitutive promoter revealed the occurrence of several cryptic regulatory regions. These regions include promoter, negative regulatory elements, transcriptional enhancers, core promoter regions, and translational enhancers and other regulatory elements.

Cryptic regulatory elements obtained from plants

The present invention is directed to translational regulatory elements that mediate the amount of protein produced within a host capable of expressing a construct comprising one or more translational regulatory elements in operative association with a gene of interest. These translational regulatory elements were derived from T1275 (tCUP) and exhibit a high degree of similarity with members of the RENT family of repetitive elements. Translational regulatory elements are disclosed that either increase or decrease he amount of protein produced within the host organism. These translational elements are operative in a wide range of hosts including plant, animals, yeast, fungi and bacteria. Analogs, derivatives and fragments of these translational elements are also disclosed.

Translational regulatory elements

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Ottawa, Canada

Peijun Zhang