Patent ID: 8129588

Claim:
An expression cassette for expression of a nucleic acid molecule comprising: a. a promoter, first exon, a first intron, and a second exon of a MADS gene obtained from Oryza sativa , wherein said promoter, first exon, intron and second exon are the 5′-regulatory sequence of said expression cassette; wherein said 5′-regulatory sequence has been engineered to include a translational initiation codon at the 3′ end of said 5′-regulatory sequence, and not to contain restriction endonuclease sites that hinder manipulation by recombinant DNA methods or additional translation initiation codons upstream of said translation initiation codon; b. a 3′-regulatory sequence of a MADS gene obtained from Oryza sativa ; and c. a nucleic acid molecule operably linked to said 5′-regulatory sequence and said 3′-regulatory sequence, wherein said nucleic acid molecule is heterologous to the 5′-regulatory sequence and to the 3′-regulatory sequence, wherein the product of the expression of said nucleic acid molecule is targeted to the reproductive tissue of a plant.