Expression of foreign proteins in rice seeds with rice protein gene promoters.

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Fusion genes of rice protein gene promoter and GUS gene were constructed and introduced in rice protoplast by electroporation. Transformed rice plants were regenerated, and expression of the reporter GUS gene was assayd. The GUS activity was specifically detected in seeds of the transgenic rice plants. It was demonstrated that the gluterin gene promoter and the branching enzyme gene promoter were suitable for the expression of foreign genes in seeds of transgenic rice plants.Milk lactoferrin was selected as a model protein to be expressed in seeds of transgenic rice plants, because lactoferrin is a protein in milk commonly consumed as a food and the protein and its N-terminal peptide have anti-bacterial activity. Oligonucleotides encoding the lactoferrin N-terminal peptide chemically synthesized, and double stranded DNA fragment was inserted in a plasmid pUC and E.coli was transformed with the plasmid. The cDNA encoding the lactoferrin was thus obtained. The cDNA was ligated with the above described promoter DNA fragments and were introduced in the rice protoplast. The trangenic rice plants are now regenerating.