Regulation of the activity of Korean radish cationic peroxidase promoter during dedifferentiation and differentiation

Studies of the regulation of the activity of the Korean radish cationic peroxidase (KRCP) promoter during dedifferentiation and redifferentiation are reported here. Histochemical staining with 5-bromo-4-chloro-indolyl glucuronide (X-gluc) showed that only dedifferentiated marginal cells of leaf discs of the transgenic plants, but not of the interior region, were stained blue, as leaf discs were incubated on dedifferentiation-inducing medium from 5 days after callus induction (DACI). The levels of cationic peroxidase activity and of KRCP transcripts in Korean radish seedlings (Raphanus sativus L. F1 Handsome Fall) were also upregulated by a low ratio of cytokinin to auxin, but not by high concentrations of cytokinin. To identify important cis-regulatory regions controlling callus-specific expression, a series of 5′ promoter deletions was carried out with KRCP::GUS gene fusion systems. The data suggest that at least two positively regulatory regions are involved in the KRCP::GUS expression during dedifferentiation induced by a low ratio of cytokinin to auxin: one from –471 to –242 and another from –241 to +196. GUS expression, however, was quickly decreased to a basal level during regeneration of root and shoot. Thus, the downstream region between +197 and +698 seems to be enough to suppress GUS expression of all constructs during regeneration. We further show that the 142-bp fragment (–471 to –328) has at least one cis-element to bind to the nuclear proteins from Korean radish seedlings induced by dedifferentiation.