Far upstream activating promoter regions are responsible for expression of the BnC1 cruciferin gene from Brassica napus.

Cruciferin is the major seed storage protein in Brassica napus. As much as 1.9 kbp of the BnC1 cruciferin gene promoter have been sequenced and analyzed. Promoter fragments with 5' deletions from -2500 to -v202 were fused with the ß-glucuronidase reporter gene and used for Nicotiana tabacum transformation. ß-glucuronidase could be specifically expressed in transgenic tobacco seeds under the control of the BnC1 promoter and regulatory elements were found to be dispersed over 1903 bp. An almost 5-fold increase in ß-glucuronidase expression was obtained when the promoter length was increased from -379 to -498, and another 10-fold increase was observed when sequences between -1266 and -1903 were added. Histochemical analysis shows that the region between -844 and -1266 directs the expression of the chimeric gene specifically to the root apical meristem.