T-DNA tagging of the translation initiation factor eIF-4A1 of Arabidopsis thaliana

A transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana line, generated using a T-DNA vector carr ying a promoterless gus reporter gene, showed intense GUS expression in you ng leaves and rapidly growing stem tissues. The gus fusion has tagged the 3 ' region of the gene encoding the A. thaliana eukaryotic translation initia tion factor eIF-4A1. Comparison of the genomic and cDNA sequence shows that the eIF-4A1 gene contains four introns. Three introns interrupt the transl ated region, whereas the largest intron splits the 5'-untranslated region. In plants homozygous for the T-DNA markers, the eIF-4A1 and gus genes are e xpressed as different mature mRNAs. The gus gene is possibly expressed from a cryptic promoter downstream the eIF-4A1 gene. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.