| Verticillium dahliae is a fungal pathogen of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). At present, no naturally occurring source of genetic resistance to race II of this pathogen has been found in cultivated tomato or its wild relatives. To increase tolerance to V. dahliae, transgenic tomato plants expressing a bacterial ethylene-modulating enzyme were developed. To drive expression of this gene, a V. dahliae -activated promoter was sought. To locate such a promoter, a method for magnetic-bead subtraction hybridization was developed and used to isolate cDNAs induced by V. dahliae infection. Northern analysis confirmed the upregulation of two cDNAs. Homology searches revealed significant sequence similarity to Arabidopsis unknown proteins or proteins involved in chromosome condensation and UV-B stress responses. The complete open reading frame of one sequence and parts of its putative promoter region were isolated. Sequencing of the putative promoter region revealed possible stress-related cis-acting elements. |
