Cloning and tissue-specific expression analysis of type2 diacylglycerol acyltransferase gene (DGAT2) promoter in Elaeis guineensis

In this study, the promoter region of the DGAT2 gene was isolated and characterized from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.). Based on genomic DNA sequence analysis, a 1035 bp promoter region was amplified by PCR. Several functional elements, such as TATA-box and CAAT-box, were identified from the obtained sequence by alignment in the database. To verify the tissue specificity of the GUS gene in different tissues, we constructed the DGAT2 promoter expression vector that contained the GUS gene and transformed the vector into Arabidopsis thaliana via the floral dip method. GUS staining of transgenic A.thaliana indicated that the DGAT2 promoter can drive gene expression without significant tissue specificity but showed obvious discrepancies in different organs by real-time PCR.