Molecular tagging of economically important genes and promoters in sugarcane

Abstract

Project Objectives : The overall aim of this project was to develop techniques for the isolation of useful gene control sequences (promoters) in sugarcane. Early in the project we also undertook preliminary studies to lay some groundwork for techniques to tag and isolate useful genes in sugarcane. Specific objectives were: I. Develop techniques for the isolation of specific sugarcane gene control sequences. This led us to evaluate the applicability of differential cDNA hybridisation to recover tissue specific genes from sugarcane, followed by genomic library screening to recover corresponding tissue-specific promoters. 2. Prepare genetic constructs for transfer into sugarcane to assist identification and isolation of useful genes and promoters in sugarcane. This led us to test the effectiveness of a range of well characterised foreign promoters and novel artificial promoters in sugarcane. 3. Probe the sugarcane genome for endogenous transposable elements homologous to those isolated from other Oramineae, to help evaluate the potential for transposon tagging of useful sugarcane genes. All project objectives were achieved.