INEFFICIENT EXPRESSION OF THE DNA-BINDING DOMAIN OF GAL4 IN TRANSGENIC PLANTS

The DNA-binding domain of the yeast transcriptional activator GAL4 was expressed in transgenic tobacco plants in order to attempt to obtain specific repression of reporter genes. Expression of the GUS and the N PTII gene was essentially the same regardless of the presence of a gen e encoding a functional GAL4 DNA-binding domain or the presence of GAL 4 recognition sequences in the promoter region of the reporter genes. Despite high levels of GAL4 mRNA, no translation product was detectabl e in transgenic plants indicating that the failure to detect functiona l GAL4 in plants is due to the inefficiency of GAL4 mRNA translation i n plants.