Developmental and pathogen-induced activation of the arabidopsis acidic chitinase promoter

Expression of the Arabidopsis acidic chitinase promoter was investigated during plant development and in response to inoculation with fungal pathogens. A chimeric gene composed of 1129 bp of 5′ upstream sequence from the acidic chitinase gene was fused to the β-glucuronidase (GUS) coding region and used to transform Arabidopsis and tomato. Promoter activity was monitored by histochemical and quantitative assays of GUS activity. In healthy transgenic plants, the acidic chitinase promoter activity was restricted to roots, leaf vascular tissue, hydathodes, guard cells, and anthers, whereas GUS expression was induced in mesophyll cells surrounding lesions caused by Rhizoctonia solani infection of transgenic Arabidopsis. In transgenic tomato plants, GUS expression was induced around necrotic lesions caused by Alternaria solani and Phytophthora infestans. Expression of the acidic chitinase promoter-GUS transgene was weakly induced by infiltrating leaves with salicylic acid. Analysis of a series of 5′ deletions of the acidic chitinase promoter in Arabidopsis indicated that the proximal 192 bp from the transcription initiation site was sufficient to establish both the constitutive and induced pattern of expression. Elements further upstream were involved in quantitative expression of the gene. The location of a negative regulatory element was indicated between -384 and -590 and positive regulatory elements between -1129 and -590.