ANALYSIS OF SPLICE DONOR AND ACCEPTOR SITE FUNCTION IN A TRANSPOSABLEGENE TRAP DERIVED FROM THE MAIZE ELEMENT ACTIVATOR

Gene trap vectors have been used in insertional mutagenesis in animal systems to clone genes with interesting patterns of expression. These vectors are designed to allow the expression of a reporter gene when t he vector inserts into a transcribed region. In this paper we examine alternative splicing events that result in the expression of a GUS rep orter gene carried on a Ds element which has been designed as a gene t rap vector for plants. We have developed a rapid and reliable method b ased on PCR to study such events. Many splice donor sites were observe d in the 3' Ac border. The relative frequency of utilisation of certai n splice donor and acceptor sites differed between tobacco and Arabido psis. A higher stringency of splicing was observed in Arabidopsis.