In the field of “green” (agricultural) biotechnology, plants are genetically manipulated in order to confer beneficial traits. These beneficial traits may be yield increase, tolerance increase, reduced dependency on fertilizers, herbicidal, pesticidal- or fungicidal-resistance, or the capability of producing chemical specialties such as nutrients, drugs, oils for food and petrochemistry etc.
In many cases, it is required to express a heterologous gene in the genetically modified plants at a rather specific location in order to obtain a plant exhibiting the desired beneficial trait. One major location for gene expression is the plant seed. In the seeds, many important synthesis pathways, e.g., in fatty acid synthesis, take place. Accordingly, expression of heterologous genes in seeds allow for the manipulation of fatty acid synthesis pathways and, thus, for the provision of various fatty acid derivatives and lipid-based compounds.
However, for many heterologous genes, a seed specific expression will be required. Promoters which allow for a seed specific expression are known in the art. Such promoters include the oilseed rape napin promoter (U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,152), the Vicia faba USP promoter (Baeumlein et al., Mol Gen Genet, 1991, 225 (3):459-67), the Arabidopsis oleosin promoter (WO 98/45461), the Phaseolus vulgaris phaseolin promoter (U.S. Pat. No. 5,504,200), the Brassica Bce4 promoter (WO 91/13980) or the legumine B4 promoter (LeB4; Baeumlein et al., 1992, Plant Journal, 2 (2):233-9), and promoters which bring about the seed-specific expression in monocotyledonous plants such as maize, barley, wheat, rye, rice and the like. Suitable noteworthy promoters are the barley Ipt2 or Ipt1 gene promoter (WO 95/15389 and WO 95/23230) or the promoters from the barley hordein gene, the rice glutelin gene, the rice oryzin gene, the rice prolamine gene, the wheat gliadine gene, the wheat glutelin gene, the maize zeine gene, the oat glutelin gene, the sorghum kasirin gene or the rye secalin gene, which are described in WO 99/16890.
However, there is a clear need for further expression control sequences such as promoters and terminators which allow for a reliable and efficient control of expression of foreign nucleic acids in seeds.
The technical problem underlying this invention can be seen as the provision of means and methods complying with the aforementioned needs. The technical problem is solved by the embodiments characterized in the claims and herein below.