Patent ID: 8090541

Claim:
A method for identifying one or more regulatory sequences mediating expression of one or more genes of interest in an organism comprising: i) identifying a first organism of interest characterized in that said first organism of interest exhibits a measurable response to an environmental stimulus; ii) identifying a second organism of interest characterized in that said second organism of interest: lacks or does not exhibit as strong said measurable response to said environmental stimulus when compared with said first organism of interest; iii) crossing said first and second organisms of interest to produce a population of progeny segregating in their response to said environmental stimulus; iv) extracting RNA from each individual of said population of progeny and quantifying a level of gene expression of said one or more genes of interest, said one or more genes of interest associated with said response to said environmental stimulus; v) identifying one or more Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL), wherein gene expression level is a quantitative trait, and using a marker, or set of markers, that comprise said one or more regulatory sequences, said one or more regulatory sequences mediate said expression of said one or more genes of interest, said one or more genes of interest induced by said environmental stimulus; and vi) identifying said one or more regulatory sequences located at said one or more QTL.