Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 23, 2026

Breeding by Design for Functional Rice with Genome Editing Technologies
Published on: January 3, 2025
The rice metallothionein gene promoter does not direct foreign gene expression in seed endosperm
Hiromitsu Fukuzawa1, Li-Hua Yu, Chikage Umeda-Hara
1Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Shiraoka Research Station of Biological Science, Nissan Chemical Industries, 1470, Minamisaitama, 349-0294, Saitama, Japan.
Abstract:
We generated transgenic tobacco and rice plants harboring a chimeric gene consisting of the 5'-upstream sequence of the rice metallothionein gene (ricMT) fused to the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene. The activity and tissue-specific expression of the ricMT promoter were demonstrated in these transgenic plants. In the transgenic rice plants, despite substantial levels of GUS activity in the shoot and root, almost no GUS signal was detected in the endosperm. Thus, the ricMT promoter could be useful in avoiding accumulation of undesired proteins in the seed endosperm.
Related Concept Videos
Riboswitches
The aptamer has high specificity for a particular metabolite which allows riboswitches to specifically regulate...
The Eukaryotic Promoter Region
Reporter Genes
Commonly used reporter...
Regulation of Expression at Multiple Steps
Gene Regulation During Sporulation
Transgenic Plants
The first-ever transgenic plant was a tobacco plant developed in 1983 that showed resistance against the tobacco mosaic virus. Since then, many transgenic plants have been developed and commercialized for improving the agricultural, ornamental, and horticultural value of a crop plant. Transgenic...

