Wound-inducible expression of a potato inhibitor II-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene fusion in transgenic tobacco plants.

A potato inhibitor II gene (IIK) was isolated from a library of potato genes in lambda bacteriophage. An 8-kilobase-pair (kbp) insert was identified using a tomato inhibitor II cDNA as a hybridization probe, and a 2.6-kbp fragment containing the gene was subcloned into the plasmid pUC13 and characterized. The nucleotide sequence of the isolated gene exhibited 87% identity with the wound-inducible tomato inhibitor II cDNA sequence. The amino acid sequence of inhibitor IIK, deduced from the potato gene, exhibited 84% identity with the tomato inhibitor II protein. A 1000-bp restriction fragment from the 5' flanking region of the gene was fused to the open reading frame of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene. This fusion was terminated in two ways: (i) with a terminator sequence from the potato inhibitor II gene and (ii) with a terminator from the 6b gene of Ti plasmid pTiA6. These chimeric genes were transferred into tobacco cells via a binary Ti vector system, and transgenic plants were regenerated. The CAT gene was expressed in leaves of transformed plants in response to wounding when fused with the inhibitor IIK promoter and terminator regions. The chimeric gene containing the 6b terminator did not express CAT in response to wounding. The wound-inducible expression of CAT activity was systemic and was induced in tissues distal to the wounded tissues. The time course of wound induction of CAT activity in transgenic tobacco leaves is similar to that found for wound-inducible inhibitor I and II mRNAs in tomato leaves. These results demonstrate that sequences necessary and sufficient for wound inducibility are present within approximately 1000 bp of the control regions of the inhibitor IIK genes and that wound-inducible components of tobacco leaf cells can regulate these sequences.