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Plant expression cassettes for enhanced translational efficiency

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Abstract

A number of plant expression cassettes have been constructed that are designed to ensure efficient ribosome recruitment, thereby improving translational efficiency. For this purpose the casettes employ the untranslated leader of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA. They also comprise the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35 S promoter, with duplicated upstream elements, and the noplaine synthase (nos) terminator. Cloning nests were included 3′ to the TMV leader and 5′ to the promoter to facilitate the construction of transcriptional or translational fusions and promoter modifications. In both a transient assay system and transgenic tobacco these cassettes were found to facilitate highexpression levels of a cytosolic and plastid-targeted reporter protein (β-glucuronidase). Also they enabled the detection of a hitherto very poorly expressed protein.

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Abbreviations

CaMV:

cauliflower mosaic virus

MU:

methyl-umbelliferone

nos :

gene encoding nopaline synthase

TMV:

tobacco mosaic virus

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Dowson Day, M.J., Ashurst, J.L. & Dixon, R.A. Plant expression cassettes for enhanced translational efficiency. Plant Mol Biol Rep 12, 347–357 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02669278

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