A 42 bp fragment of the pmas1' promoter containing an ocs-like element confers a developmental, wound- and chemically inducible expression pattern

Synthesis of mannopine in plant tissues infected with Agrobacterium tumefaciens is controlled by a divergent promoter (pmas2' and pmas1') that in 479 bp contains all the cis-acting elements necessary to direct tissue-specific and wound-inducible expression. In this report, using transgenic tobacco plants harboring a pmas1'-β-glucuronidase (GUS) gene fusion, we investigated the developmental expression pattern directed by pmas1' in the early stages of development and the responses of pmas1' to different chemical inducers. It was found that this promoter can respond to auxins, cytokinins, methyl jasmonate (MJ), salicylic acid (SA) and its analogue 2,6-dichloroisonicotinic acid (iNA). Treatment with chemical inducers also showed that the effects of iNA are organ-dependent, that wound-induction is a complex response mediated by at least two different chemical signals, and that MJ stimulates changes in the tissue-specific and developmental expression pattern directed by the pmas1' promoter. Using chimeric promoters we demonstrate that an ocs-like element (ocs+I) directs MJ responses in an orientation-dependent manner and that sequences around the ocs+I are important to maintain the inducible and developmental properties of this cis-regulatory element.