A transgenic approach to understanding gene expression in cereals

As methods for the genetic transformation and regeneration of cereals become increasingly facile and efficient, other limitations in the use of this approach become more obvious. For some transgenic applications, strong constitutive over expression is required while for others, finely targeted or inducible expression is preferable. However, there is a lack of well-defined constitutive, tissue-specific or inducible promoters for cereals. Here, we describe our work to characterize promoter sequences that drive defined patterns of expression in transgenic wheat using the GUS reporter gene