PLANT REGULATORY SEQUENCE
The present invention relates to regulatory sequences. In particular, the invention relates to a regulatory nucleotide sequence, at least part of which has a transcription initiation function directing expression of an operably associated protein encoding polynucleotide of interest to non-pollen tissue, but not or substantially not to pollen. The invention further relates to chimeric genes and expression cassettes comprising said regulatory sequence and to transgenic plants comprising said chimeric genes and expression cassettes.
1 . A regulatory nucleotide sequence comprising a fragment of at least 50 consecutive nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:13, wherein the regulatory nucleotide sequence is operably-linked to a protein encoding polynucleotide of interest and wherein the protein encoding polynucleotide is transcribed in leaf tissue and not in pollen.
2 . The regulatory nucleotide sequence of claim 1 , wherein the protein encoding polynucleotide of interest encodes a protein that confers insect resistance or drought tolerance to a transgenic plant.
4 . An expression cassette comprising the regulatory nucleotide sequence of claim 1 .
5 . A vector molecule comprising the expression cassette according to claim 4 .
6 . A transgenic plant cell stably transformed with the expression cassette of claim 4 .
7 . A transgenic plant stably transformed with the expression cassette of claim 4 .
8 . A seed of the transgenic plant of claim 7 wherein the seed comprises the expression cassette.
9 . A progeny of the transgenic plant of claim 7 wherein the progeny comprises the expression cassette.
10 . The transgenic plant of claim 7 wherein the plant is Zea mays.
11 . A seed of the transgenic plant of claim 10 , wherein the seed comprises the expression cassette.