A Chlorella virus gene promoter functions as a strong promoter both in plants and bacteria

An upstream region from an algal virus methyltransferase gene was tested for promoter function in transgenic plants, electroporated monocot protoplasts and bacteria. Fusion of the 851 bp upstream region to a reporter gene significantly enhanced the reporter gene expression in transgenic Arabidopsis and potato plants and in electroporated maize and Sorghum cells relative to the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. The promoter was also functional in several Escherichia coli strains and in three species of phytopathogenic bacteria, Erwinia, Pseudomonas, and Xanthomonas. These findings indicate that the upstream region is a strong promoter uniquely functional in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes and capable of using both eukaryotic RNA polymerase II and bacterial RNA polymerases.