期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2002
卷号：99
期号：20
页码：13290-13295
DOI：10.1073/pnas.202471899
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：Designer zinc finger transcription factors (TFsZF) have been developed to control the expression of transgenes and endogenous genes in mammalian cells. Application of TFsZF technology in plants would enable a wide range of both basic and applied studies. In this paper, we report the use of TFsZF to target a defined 18-bp DNA sequence to control gene expression in plant cells and in transgenic plants. A {beta}-glucuronidase reporter gene was activated by using the designed six-zinc finger protein 2C7 expressed as a fusion with the herpes simplex virus VP16 transcription factor activation domain. Reporter gene expression was activated 5- to 30-fold by using TFsZF in BY-2 protoplasts, whereas expression was increased as much as 450 times in transgenic tobacco plants. Use of a phloem-specific promoter to drive expression of the TFsZF resulted in activation of the reporter gene in vascular tissues. Transgenic tobacco plants that produce 2C7 transcription factors were phenotypically normal through two generations, suggesting that the factors exerted no adverse effects. This study demonstrates the utility of zinc finger technology in plants, setting the stage for its application in basic and applied agricultural biotechnology.
