THE DEVELOPMENTAL EXPRESSION OF THE ASPARAGUS INTRACELLULAR PR PROTEIN (AOPR1) GENE CORRELATES WITH SITES OF PHENYLPROPANOID BIOSYNTHESIS

Previous reports have described the induction, by either wounding or a ttempted pathogen invasion, of an Asparagus officinalis intracellular pathogenesis-related (AoPR1) promoter-GUS gene fusion in transgenic to bacco. Here we describe the unexpected developmental expression patter n of the AoPR1-GUS gene which correlates well, temporally and spatiall y, with the developmental expression observed for GUS fusions with pro moters derived from genes coding for enzymes in the 'core phenylpropan oid pathway'. Analysis of endogenous AoPR1 gene expression in asparagu s and both AoPR1-GUS and AoPR1-luciferase gene fusions in transgenic t obacco suggests that the AoPR1 promoter directs similar cell-specific transcription patterns in both asparagus and transgenic tobacco. The A oPR1 promoter contains sequence motifs similar to those implicated as important in the regulation of phenylpropanoid pathway genes and anoth er 'intracellular' PR gene. Treatment with salicylic acid,enhances AoP R1 promoter gene activity both in tobacco and in asparagus.