Biotech Updates

Simple Database to Select Promoters for Plant Transgenesis

August 12, 2011

Studies involving genetically engineered (GE) plants often need a number of promoters that would provide appropriate transcription patterns. However, the set of promoters commonly used in vectors and genetic constructs is limited, and these promoters only give few patterns of gene expression. To lessen the time needed to search for promoters with varied and verified characteristics, Olga Smirnova and colleagues at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Russia developed TransGene Promoters (TGP), a simple database that can be used to select promoters for plant transgenesis. The database contains information on genomic DNA segments providing specific expression patterns of reporter genes in experiments involving GE plants.

Read the technical report on TGP at http://www.springerlink.com/content/86h4441m58615165/fulltext.pdf. Access the database at http://wwwmgs.bionet.nsc.ru/mgs/dbases/tgp/home.html.