ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors review the experiments in which genes, isolated from rice, were introduced into heterologous plant systems. In an attempt to develop additional gene regulatory elements for genetic transformation of plant species, the GOS gene promoter was analyzed by fusing it to the gus gene and introducing the resulting chimeric construct into rice tissues and cell suspension cultures of rice and barley via particle bombardment. Experiments with cytosolic and plastid glutamine synthetase from rice were performed to gain a better understanding of the regulation and function of these genes in heterologous systems. In order to evaluate the usefulness of the rice glutelin promoter to direct organ specific expression in heterologous systems, a chimeric gene consisting of the 5' flanking sequences of the rice glutelin gene linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase coding segment was introduced into tobacco via Agrobacterium cocultivation. It is very surprising that only a handful of these genes have been introduced into heterologous systems, almost invariably tobacco.
