Cis-acting regulatory regions of the soybean seed storage 11S globulin gene and their interactions with seed embryo factors

Abstract

A 2.2 kb fragment containing the 5′-flanking region of the soybean glycinin A₂B_1a gene and its successive deletions with a shorter 5′-flanking sequence were fused, in frame, to the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene. The resultant fusions were introduced into tobacco plants via Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Assays of the GUS activity in seeds of transgenic tobacco showed that the upstream region, −657 to −327 (relative to the transcription initiation site [+1]), of the glycinin gene is required for optimal expression of the transformed gene. Interactions between embryo nuclear factors and DNA fragments covering the downstream region of −326, in which are included the TATA box and legumin boxes, were not apparent. The embryo factors capable of binding specifically to three subregions, −653 to −527, −526 to −422, and −427 to −321, of the upstream regulatory region were detected. Such factors appeared to be organ-specific and could be found solely in developing seeds at the early middle stage of embryogenesis (around 24 days after flowering). Evidence obtained by characterizing the nature of the binding proteins and by gel mobility shift assays established that the same factor does interact with a consensus motif 5′-ATA/TATTTCN-/CTA-3′ which occurs four times in the cis-acting regulatory region between −657 and −327. Moreover, this conserved motif could also be found in the 5′ regulatory region of another glycinin A_1aB_1b gene. Thus it is likely that the observed interaction between the nuclear factor and the conserved motifs would lead to activation of transcription from the glycinin genes in maturing soybean seeds.