Heat shock elements are involved in heat shock promoter activation during tobacco seed maturation.

The soybean Gmhsp 17.3-B heat shock promoter is developmentally regulated in transgenic tobacco, as indicated by the constitutive expression of a beta-glucuronidase reporter in seeds [16]. In this paper, we show that both the heat shock promoter-driven beta-glucuronidase activity and the mRNA of the endogenous Nthsp18P gene accumulate coincident with the onset of seed desiccation. Deletions of the soybean Gmhsp17.3-B promoter, encompassing the heat shock element (HSE)-containing regions, revealed a co-localization of sequences responsible for heat induction and developmental expression. Moreover, synthetic HSEs fused to a TATA box sequence had the potential to stimulate the developmental expression of a GUS reporter gene in seeds of transgenic plants.