Cloning and function analysis of the promoter of PPO gene from litchi(Litchi chinensis Sonn.)

【Objective】The aim of this paper is to clone the promoter sequence of PPO gene and analyzeits function to provide basis for further study on expression of PPO gene and utilization of its promoter.【Methods】The promoter sequence of the PPO gene from litchi was cloned by the methods of TAIL-PCRand adaptor PCR. The characteristics of the promoter sequence were analyzed with bioinformatics soft-ware. The core promoter regulatory elements were verified by constructing and expressing transient expres-sion vectors containing the full or partial promoter sequence.【Results】The 1048 bp promoter sequence ofthe PPO gene was cloned from‘Feizixiao'litchi. It contained a variety of cis-acting elements. The ex-pression of GUS could be mediated by different length of promoter sequences in leaves and peels of threelitchi cultivars,i.e.,‘Feizixiao',‘Ziniangxi'and‘Wuhe'. However,all the promoter sequences couldnot drive the expression of GUS in seeds of‘Ziniangxi'and‘Feizixiao'.【Conclusion】The promoter of PPO gene has been obtained and some of its rules in regulating gene expression has been elucidated.