The sequence of a pea vicilin gene and its expression in transgenic tobacco plants

Abstract

A 5.5 kb Eco RI fragment containing a vicilin gene was selected from a Pisum sativum genomic library, and the protein-coding region and adjacent 5′ and 3′ regions were sequenced. A DNA construction comprising this 5.5 kb fragment together with a gene for neomycin phosphotransferase II was stably introduced into tobacco using an Agrobacterium tumefaciens binary vector, and the fidelity of expression of the pea vicilin gene in its new host was studied. The seeds of eight transgenic tobacco plants showed a sixteen-fold range in the level of accumulated pea vicilin. The level of accumulation of vicilin protein and mRNA correlated with the number of integrated copies of the vicilin gene. Pea vici..