Chemical-inducible gene expression systems for plants - a review

Chemical-inducible expression systems, or 'gene switches', provide an oppor tunity for the temporal, spatial and quantitative control of genetically en gineered traits. This review describes molecular and chemical aspects of se veral gene switches which have appeared in the literature and a novel unpub lished system. Molecular components from plant, bacterial, fungal, insect a nd mammalian sources have all been utilised to develop gene switches. A bri ef description of the underlying principle of each approach and some detail of how they perform in transgenic plants is given. Although gene switch sy stems have utility for fundamental and applied research, particular referen ce is given to those systems with potential for application in agriculture. (C) 1998 Society of Chemical Industry.