Expression cassettes for seed-specific expression in plants

1. An expression cassette for regulating seed-specific expression in plants comprising a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid which is heterologous in relation to said promoter and wherein said promoter comprises the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 13.

2. The expression cassette of claim 1 wherein the expression of the nucleic acid results in expression of a protein, or expression of an antisense RNA, sense or double-stranded RNA.

3. A recombinant vector comprising an expression cassette according to claim 1 .

4. A transformed plant containing the expression cassette of claim 1 .

5. The transformed plant of claim 4 wherein said transformed plant is a plant used for oil production.

6. The transformed plant according to claim 5 wherein the plant is selected from the group consisting of canola, maize, mustard, castor bean, sesame, cotton, linseed, soybean, Arabidopsis, Phaseolus , peanut, alfalfa, wheat, rice, oat, sorghum, rapeseed, rye, sugarcane, safflower, oil palms, flax, sunflower, Brassica campestris, Brassica napus, Brassica juncea and Crambe abyssinica.

7. A plant cell comprising an expression cassette of claim 1 .

8. A microspore comprising an expression cassette of claim 1 .

9. A seed generated from a transformed plant wherein the seed comprises an expression cassette according to claim 1 .

10. A method of producing a transformed plant comprising (a) providing an expression cassette of claim 1 and (b) transforming a plant with said expression cassette.

11. A method of producing a seed comprising (a) growing a transformed plant containing the expression vector of claim 1 , wherein said transformed plant produces said seed and said nucleic acid is transcribed in said seed, and (b) isolating said seed from said transformed plant.