Patent Application: US-66332600-A

Abstract:
an isolated protein which exhibits cytokinin oxidizing activity selected from the group consisting of seq . id no . 1 , a protein having an amino acid sequence which includes the amino acid sequence of seq . id no . 1 , a protein having an amino acid sequence which includes a portion of the amino acid sequence of seq . id no . 1 , the included portion being at least about 20 amino acid residues in length and conferring the cytokinin oxidizing activity on the protein , and a protein including an amino acid sequence with at least about 65 % sequence identity to seq . id no . 1 , the remainder of amino acid residues being conservatively substituted . nucleic acids encoding proteins which exhibit cytokinin oxidizing activity and related compositions and methods are also disclosed .

Description:
the present invention relates to newly sequenced cytokinin oxidase isolated from the maize plant , zea mays , designated ckx1 , which exhibits a substrate specific cytokinin oxidizing activity . the enzyme has been linked to the development and maturation of kernels in maize , as well as the senescence of plant tissues . the control of these plant functions appears to be achieved by the degradation of endogenous and exogenous cytokinin concentrations . because ckx1 efficiently oxidizes unsaturated - side - chain free cytokinins and their ribosides , such as ip , z , and zr ( which also induce production of the enzyme when applied exogenously or endogenously ), it is thought that ckx1 rigorously controls the availability of these active cytokinins as a part of plant growth regulation . during the course of developing the claimed invention , the applicant encountered several difficulties which may explain why the search for a cytokinin oxidase gene has been heretofore unsuccessful . the protein is expressed at very low levels , and only at certain periods of the plant growth cycle . therefore , screening a x - cdna maize library in e . coli may not yield ckx1 simply because the gene was not expressed , or not expressed in detectable amounts , when the library was taken . also , isolation of the protein may have been a problem for some researchers , since its active form does not survive gel filtration . only through the development of his own screening process , described in example 1 , was the applicant able to isolate the protein in sufficient purity for tryptic digestion and subsequent sequencing . even after the protein was purified , obtaining the gene sequence for ckx1 proved to be difficult . apparently , the n - terminal end of ckx1 is blocked , so a straightforward edman degradation determination of its n - terminal sequence was impossible . only small , internal sequences were determinable after tryptic digestion of the protein , seq . id no . 4 & amp ; 5 . because the location of these fragments in the protein &# 39 ; s amino acid sequence was unknown , several problems had to be overcome in order to successfully probe the zea mays genome for the ckx1 gene , as detailed in example 1 . the small size of the sequenced peptides necessitated using a “ bookended ” criteria ( one probe at either end of the replicated dna ) in order to eliminate non - ckx1 dna from either side of the ckx1 gene . one could be reasonably certain that the dna between two probes would be part of the ckx1 gene . a hybridization / amplification product size criteria of 300 bp was also necessary in order to distinguish between dimerized degenerate primers and pcr products . a simple degenerate strategy was unlikely to work because of the high degeneracy inherent in the particular amino acid sequences available from the tryptic peptides . initially , when a standard degenerate nucleotide strategy was used , utilizing all possible oligonucleotides encoding the interior amino acid sequences , the low concentration of specifically binding primer was not sufficient for the initiation of pcr amplification . the applicant was able to overcome this problem only by using inosine containing degenerate probes with a broader specificity . also , several of the degenerate probes were too close together to yield products of the target size , or not in the right order in the gene to produce “ bookended ” products . only probes seq id no . 6 , 7 , 8 , & amp ; 9 proved to be of use in isolating the ckx1 gene . the identity of the isolated gene was verified by two independent methods . first , it was verified by testing the affinity of goat antisera to an escherichia coli produced translation of seq . id no . 3 for ckx1 in maize kernel extracts , as per example 1 . second , it was confirmed by expressing seq . id no . 3 in pichia pastoris resulting in the secretion of active cytokinin oxidase as per example 2 . seq . id no . 2 lists the complete genomic dna sequence of ckx1 , which yields the glycosylated form of the protein when expressed in zea mays . the predicted location of the introns in the genomic sequence was verified using the reverse transcriptase - polymerase chain reaction to find the actual transcribed length of rna , as per example 1 . seq . id no . 3 lists the coding dna sequence for ckx1 , which yields the amino acid sequence set forth in seq . id no . 1 . the state of the art of molecular biology is now sufficiently advanced that minor alterations can be made to a dna sequence with relative ease and precision . a moderately skilled laboratory technician can follow the directions of one of the commercially available site - directed mutagenesis kits ( for instance , the geneeditor ™ offered by promega corp ., madison , wis .) to effect any number of changes to a dna nucleotide sequence . also well known are the general rules governing the genetic code , by which triplet nucleotide codons are translated into an amino acid sequence by standard biochemical processes . thus , the applicant considers the group of dna sequences denoted by the consensus sequence of seq . id no . 10 , which code for the amino acid sequence of ckx1 in seq . id . no . 1 , to be within the present invention . although some variation in the genetic code and the gc % content occurs amongst some phyla , the rules governing these variations have also been well documented , and are within the reasonable skill of one versed in the molecular genetic arts . thus , the applicant also considers any other nucleic acid sequence which encodes the amino acid sequence seq . id no . 1 to be within the scope of the present invention . in addition , although the understanding of the field of protein biochemistry is not as complete as that of molecular genetics , the person or ordinary skill in the art of biochemistry is capable of predicting , with reasonable certainty , when certain substitutions to the primary amino acid sequence structure of a protein will not result in any appreciable modification of a protein &# 39 ; s structure or function . such conservative substitutions are made by replacing an amino acid in the sequence with another containing a side chain with like charge , size , and other characteristics . for instance , the amino acid alanine , which has a small nonpolar methyl side chain , generally can be replaced by glycine , an amino acid which has a small nonpolar hydrogen side chain , without any noticeable effects . likewise , the amino acid asparagine , with a moderately bulky , polar ethamide side chain , usually can be replaced with glutamine , which has a moderately bulky , polar propamide side chain , without noticeable effects . to the extent that such conservative substitutions can be made while retaining 65 %, preferably 80 % or more identity to seq . id no . 1 and cytokinin oxidizing activity , such altered proteins are within the scope of the present invention . cytokinin oxidases are known to exist in a variety of non - glycosylated and glycosylated forms in several species of higher plants , including maize . this modification is thought to be involved in compartmentalizing cytokinin oxidases for various uses inside and outside the cell . the extent of glycosylation of the enzyme may also account for the wide variety of molecular weights observed between the cytokinin oxidases of various species . however , because substrate specificity , a requirement of molecular oxygen for activity , and copper concentration reaction rate effects in vitro are highly conserved among all higher plant cytokinin oxidases , a common domain and active site structure is believed responsible for the cytokinin oxidizing activity of all enzymes . thus , the present invention is also directed to a protein which exhibits cytokinin oxidizing activity and which contains an amino acid sequence at least about 20 amino acids in length which is 90 % identical ( or would be identical with conservative amino acid substitutions ) to a similarly sized portion of seq . id no . 1 . another object of the current invention is the regulated production of ckx1 in various host cells , either for later bulk isolation , or regulated intracellular production . for instance , ckx1 may be produced in unglycosylated form in prokaryotes , such as e . coli , as illustrated in example 1 . more preferably , the protein may be produced in eukaryotes , as illustrated by the pichia production of example 2 . an added benefit of producing the protein in pichia is that the protein is secreted into the culture media where it may be readily purified . alternatively , the protein may be produced in higher eukaryotes , more preferably plants , such as the nicotiana constructs of example 4 either as the glycosylated or non - glycosylated forms . other examples of suitable host plant cells include zea mays , arabidopsis thaliana , brassica spp , and oryza sativa . as illustrated , ckx1 can be produced in plants either in an unregulated fashion , as shown here under the camv promoter , regulated by an artificial stimuli , as shown here under a tet operator combined with a camv promoter , and regulated by an environmental stimuli , as shown here under the rb7 promotor , which induces root - specific production of a protein in response to nematodal attack . the several aspects of the present invention , including the ckx1 protein and the nucleic acid polymers which encode it , the cytokinin oxidizing activity of enzymes such as the ckx1 enzyme , and the regulation of cytokinin levels in plant cells by ckx1 , collectively enable several practical applications , including both agricultural and research uses . the applicant has devised an application for bulk cytokinin oxidase which greatly facilitates plant physiology research . cytokinin oxidase can be reoxidized after oxidizing cytokinins by the synthetic oxidizing agent dichlorophenolindophenol ( dcpip ). dcpip demonstrates a reduced absorbance at 590 nm upon reduction , which can be spectrophotometrically quantified . the cytokinin concentration in a sample may be determined indirectly by measuring the decrease in oxidized dcpip as ckx1 oxidizes the cytokinins present in the sample . more sensitive redox dyes are also available to increase the sensitivity of the assay . therefore , it is another object of the present invention to provide a simple , fast , and effective means to assay cytokinin concentrations in a sample . the applicant has also devised an application for the modified production of ckx1 in plants . cytokinins are associated with several types of plant pathogenesis , including the formation of nematode feeder cells , and fungal invasion of plant tissues . thus , the pathogen - exposure - regulated production of ckx1 can modify the efficacy of pathogenesis through cytokinin - utilizing mechanisms such as that utilized by the root - knot nematode , meloidogyne spp . ( bird , et al ., 1980 ), or fungal species such as ustilago maydis . thus , it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of moderating cytokinin - mediated pathogenesis by transforming a plant with a ckx1 producing dna construct . maize kernels were chosen as the raw material for purification because of the relatively high concentrations of cytokinin oxidase present about a week after pollination . using the procedure set forth below , approximately 1 . 66 μg protein per kg maize yield may be obtained . field grown maize ( pioneer 3180 or 3379 ) was hand pollinated , and immature ears were harvested between 5 and 8 days later ( dietrich , 1995 ). kernels were harvested immediately , and frozen at − 80 ° c . until extraction . after being powdered in liquid nitrogen , the kernels were blended in 1 kg lots with 1700 ml of buffer a ( 50 mm tris , 5 mm edta , ascorbic acid 0 . 4 % w / v ; 10 mm β - mercaptoethanol , ph 8 . 5 ). acid washed pvpp ( 200 g wet weight , equilibrated w / buffer a ) was stirred in immediately . the slurry was filtered through miracloth and centrifuged at 23 , 500 × g for 15 minutes to remove debris . polyethyleneimine solution ( 5 % v / v , ph 8 . 5 ) was added dropwise to the centrifuged supernatant , to a final concentration of 0 . 05 %. after recentrifugation at 23 , 500 × g for 10 minutes , the supernatant was filtered through a 600 g pad of pvpp ( prepared as above ). ammonium sulfate fractionation was performed , and the protein precipitating between 40 % and 65 % saturation was collected by centrifugation and dissolved in a minimum volume of buffer b ( 10 mm tris , 1 mm edta , 1 mm β - mercaptoethanol , ph 8 . 5 ). insoluble material was removed by centrifugation at 35 , 000 × g for 20 minutes . at this point , glycerol may be added to the supernatant to 10 % v / v , allowing the protein to be stored at − 80 ° c . indefinitely without loss of activity . after dialyzing the supernatant from the ammonium sulfate fractionation against buffer b , the fraction was applied to a deae - cellulose column ( whatman de - 52 , 500 ml , available from the whatman group , clifton , n . j .) at the rate of 10 ml / minute . after washing w / buffer b , the column was eluted with a linearly increasing concentration of kcl in buffer b , to 200 mm over 600 ml . protein content was measured using the bradford dye binding assay ( bradford , 1976 ). fractions were analyzed for oxidase activity as described below . two assays were used to screen purification steps for cytokinin oxidase activity . the first was the schiff base formation assay measuring the production of dimethylallylaldehyde from ip , as described by liberos - minotta ( 1995 ), which was used up through the deae column step . a second assay , developed by the applicant , was used in the remaining purification steps . in this assay , the transfer of reducing equivalents from isopentenyladenine to dichlorophenolindophenol ( dcpip ), catalyzed by ckx1 , allows the observance of reactivity by measuring absorbance change at 590 nm . in a final volume of 250 μl , the assay contains : 100 mm phosphate buffer , ph 7 . 0 ; 1 . 0 mm edta ; 0 . 05 mm dcpip ; 0 . 1 mm ip ; 100 μg / ml bsa ; and the sample tested . after the addition of the enzyme , absorbance change is read at 590 nm for 10 minutes . after purification on the deae column , the major pooled active material was dialyzed against buffer c ( 20 mm tris , 0 . 5 m nacl , 1 . 0 mm cacl 2 , ph 7 . 4 ), and applied to a concanavalin a agarose column ( 100 ml , from sigma aldrich , st . louis , mo .) and washed w / buffer c ( 270 ml ). glycosylated proteins were eluted with a step gradient of buffer c containing α - d - methylmannoside to 1 m over 400 ml . the relatively long retention time when eluted under these conditions indicates that the glycosylated form of ckx1 was isolated . active fractions from the lectin - affinity chromatography were then dialyzed against buffer d ( 10 mm tris , 1 mm edta , ph 8 . 5 ) and applied to a high resolution anion exchange column ( fplc monoq , 1 ml , from amersham pharmacia biotech , ltd ., san francisco , calif . ), and eluted with a linear gradient of kcl to 0 . 12 m over 24 minutes at 1 ml / minute . the active fractions from the ion exchange column were then concentrated , dialyzed against buffer b , brought to 1 . 5 m ammonium sulphate and applied to a hydrophobic interaction column ( fplc phenylsuperose , 1 ml , pharmacia ) equilibrated in buffer b containing 0 . 6 ammonium sulfate . after washing with 0 . 6 m ammonium sulfate for 25 minutes , the concentration of ammonium sulfate was reduced successively to 0 . 45 m over 15 minutes and then to zero over 60 minutes . native gel electrophoresis was performed as illustrated in ornstein ( 1964 ) and davis ( 1964 ). gels were then stained for cytokinin oxidase activity by the dcpip procedure described above . enzyme activity was revealed as a transparent band against a blue background . denaturing sds polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was then carried out as illustrated in laemmli ( 1970 ). when testing fractions for homogeneity , the gel was stained as described by møller ( 1995 ). at the final purification step , the enzyme was stained with coomassie blue r250 . the purified protein was analyzed by tryptic digestion , hplc separation of digest , and edman degradation sequencing of the tryptic polypeptides . several polypeptide sequences were obtained from this analysis , including seq . id nos . 4 and 5 . from these sequences , reverse translation primer probes , seq . id nos . 6 , 7 , 8 , and 9 , were devised , with inosine substituted at highly degenerative positions . primers seq . id nos . 6 and 9 were then combined with maize genomic dna , and hot - start touchdown pcr was performed ( ault , 1994 ) for 40 cycles . pcr products were separated on agarose gel , and an approximately 440 bp fragment was chosen to use as a hybridization probe . the identity of the fragment was confirmed by showing that it could be amplified by pcr with the nested internal primers seq . id nos . 7 and 8 . the fragment amplified by the primers seq . id nos . 6 and 9 was then ligated into linearized pcrii dna and transformed into e . coli ( invαf ′, invitrogen corp ., carlsbad , calif .). after cloning and reisolation of dna , plasmid inserts were sequenced using the prism dideoxy terminator method of applied biosystems , foster city , calif ., to verify that the sequenced tryptic digest polypeptides were encoded by the fragment . once the large fragment had been verified , it was labeled with 32 p by primer extension using the klenow fragment of dna polymerase and primers seq . id nos . 6 and 9 . maize genomic library phage ( in λ - fixii , from stratagene , la jolla , calif .) were diluted in sm buffer , and appropriate numbers added to freshly prepared e . coli ( xl1 - blue mra ( p2 ), stratagene ) in 10 mm mgso 4 , and incubated at 37 ° c . for 15 minutes . nzy top agar at 48 ° c . was added and the mixture plated onto nzy agar plates . after incubation for approximately 8 hours at 37 ° c ., plates were cooled to 4 ° c . for 2 hours and phage were adsorbed onto sheets of hybond n membrane ( amersham pharmacia biotech , san francisco , calif .). membranes were air - dried for 10 minutes , and incubated successively with 0 . 5 m naoh plus 1 . 5 m nacl , 500 ml , 5 minutes ; 0 . 5 tris - cl ph 8 . 0 plus 1 . 5 m nacl , 500 ml , 5 minutes ; and 2 × ssc , 500 ml , 5 minutes . they were blotted dry and baked at 80 ° c . until dry ( approximately 15 minutes ). membranes were pre - hybridized at 45 ° c . for less than one hour in 50 % formamide , 5 × sspe , 2 × denhardt &# 39 ; s solution , 0 . 2 % sds , 100 - 200 μg / ml denatured herring sperm or calf thymus dna ( maniatis , 1990 ). the labeled dna fragment was then denatured at 100 ° c . for 5 minutes , added to the pre - hybridization solution , and hybridized for 16 hours at 45 ° c . for the primary screen , phage were plated at a density of 500 pfu / cm 2 and membranes were washed at high stringency . for subsequent plaque purification , candidate phage were plated at a density of 70 pfu / cm 2 and 2 pfu / cm 2 and membranes were washed at medium stringency . after three rounds of purification , subfragments of the insert were removed from positive phage dna by restriction and subcloned into pbluescript ( stratagene ) for characterization by restriction digestion and sequence analysis . two overlapping plasmid subclones , prom2 ( a hindiii insert ) and prom3 ( an xho - bamhi insert ) each contained part of the gene for ckx1 . these overlapping sections have been fused into the plasmid clone prom10 . the plasmids prom2 , prom3 , and prom10 have been deposited with the american type culture collection as atcc nos . 209573 , 209572 , and 209571 , respectively . the sequence of the cloned dna in prom2 and prom3 provided the genomic sequence of ckx1 , seq . id no . 2 , which was verified by the inclusion of sequences coding for the tryptic digest fragments obtained above . the location of the introns in the ckx1 gene , and the coding sequence for ckx1 ( seq . id no . 3 ) was verified by use of the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction ( rt - pcr ) according to the following procedure . total rna ( 2 - 4 μg , dnaase i - treated ) from kernels harvested five days after pollination ( 5 dap ) was primed for rt - pcr using oligonucleotides bracketing the intron sites . primers 2031f ( ckx1 genomic sequence 2031 - 2050 ) and xbh1 ( reverse complement of ckx1 genomic sequence 2553 - 2570 ) covered the first intron site . primers 3160f ( ckx1 genomic sequence 3160 - 3179 ) and 3484r ( reverse complement of ckx1 genomic sequence 3465 - 3484 ) covered the second intron site . reverse transcription was at 50 ° c . for 50 min . with 200u superscript ii ( gibco - brl ) in 20 μl total volume with 25 mm tris - cl , ph 8 . 3 , 37 . 5 mm kcl , 1 . 5 mm mgcl 2 , 0 . 5 mm dntps , 5mm dithiothreitol , 40u rnaasin ( promega , madison , wis .). pcr was performed with 4 - 10 % of the rt reaction product as template and 1u taq polymerase in 1 × pcr buffer ( roche diagnostics , basel , switzerland ), 200 μm dntps , and 0 . 5 μm each primer . reaction conditions were : an initial denaturation at 95 ° c . for four minutes followed by thirty - five cycles of 95 ° denaturation for one minute , 60 ° annealing for one minute , and 72 ° extension for one minute . a final four minute extension was carried out at 72 °. pcr products were resolved on 1 . 5 % agarose gels . pcr products were excised from gels and sequenced to determine splice site junctions . rt - pcr of maize kernel rna ( 5 days after pollination ) with primers designed to span the first and second intron locations demonstrated pcr product sizes consistent with splicing out of these introns in the mature oxidase mrna . the primers bracketing the first intron should give a 539 bp product if the intron is present and a 127 bp product if it has been spliced out . likewise , the primers bracketing the second intron should give a 324 bp product if the second intron is present and a 232 bp product if it has been spliced out . as shown in fig2 the pcr products were 127 bp and 232 bp respectively , indicating that the introns had indeed been spliced out . sequence analysis of the fragments confirmed that splicing had occurred as predicted . the identity of the ckx1 protein and gene were further verified by the following immunological technique . polyclonal antibodies were raised in goats to the peptide produced by expression of a ckx1 gene fragment in e . coli . this avoided the presentation of a glycosylated surface when raising antibodies to the gene product and the problems encountered by burch , et al ., when raising antibodies to naturally occurring ckx1 . goat antibodies from immunized and unimmunized animals were partially purified by sodium sulfate precipitation ( willams , et al ., 1967 ). affinity columns were prepared by coupling these purified antibodies ( 2 mg ) to aminolink plus gels ( 1 ml , pierce ) at ph 10 , following the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocol . activity depletion assays were performed by adding 0 . 2 ml ( 27 μg ) of a maize cona - fractioned oxidase preparation plus 0 . 8 ml phosphate buffered saline ( pbs ) to each column . the columns were capped and incubated for one hour at room temperature . eluate was collected and assayed for cytokinin oxidase activity . antibodies to ckx1 recognize the major maize cytokinin oxidase enzyme . a column containing immobilized anti - ckx1 - fragment antibody was able to deplete cytokinin oxidase activity from a cona - fractionated maize extract . a control column of unimmunized goat antibodies was not able to do so . ckx1 protein may be produced in bulk by the following procedure for use in applications such as the cytokinin assay of example 3 , or application to plant materials . expression of ckx1 in pichia pastoris was carried out in four stages : step 2 . removal of the maize promoter and construction of the appropriate expression cassette using the intron - less construct removal of the right - most intron was accomplished by splicing by overlap extension ( horton et al ., 1989 ) and for the left - most intron by ligation of suitable restriction fragments . the resulting intronless cassette was inserted into the pichia expression vector ppicz - a to give the expression construct prom24 ( fig9 ). this construct was introduced into the requisite pichia host and grown in the presence of methanol to induce ckx1 expression . appropriate control pichia lines ( containing . the vector alone or a recombinant expressing human serum albumin ) were grown in parallel . no cytokinin oxidase activity was observed in pichia cell lysates containing ckx1 or the controls at any time during the growth curve . however , the pichia line harboring ckx1 expressed and secreted high levels of cytokinin oxidase activity into the growth medium . no activity was observed in control supernatants . this provided further verification that ckx1 does indeed encode a cytokinin oxidase . the second intron ( seq . id no . 2 residues 3219 - 3312 ) was removed by splicing by overlap extension with selected ckx1 restriction fragments as templates to limit artifactual priming . the following table lists the primers and templates used . pcr products from reactions # 1 and # 2 were gel - purified and used in the final pcr step . the final product from reaction # 3 was cloned and sequenced and a pflm1 / xba1 subfragment was substituted for the intron - containing pflm1 / xba1 subfragment of prom7 . the construct was designated prom19 . the first intron ( seq . id no . 2 residues 2113 - 2524 ) was then removed from prom19 by replacement of the dna between the restriction sites pina1 and nco1 with a linker constructed from the oligonucleotides ccggttttggtaccggt ( seq . id no . 17 ) and catgaccggtaccaaaa ( seq . id no . 18 ). the product was designated prom20 . extraneous linker - associated bases were removed by digestion with pina1 followed by re - ligation . the product , designated prom22 ( fig8 ), contained the three fused ckx1 exons and the maize ckx1 promoter . the maize promoter was removed by partial digestion of prom22 ( fig8 ) with aatii , filling in the sticky ends with t4 dna polymerase , and redigestion with bglii . the exon fusion ( containing ckx1 and including its putative signal peptide ) was ligated into the pml1 / bsmb1 restriction sites of ppicz - a ( easy - select pichia expression kit version b , invitrogen corp .). the resulting plasmid was designated prom24 ( fig9 ). step 3 . transformation into pichia strain x33 as described in the invitrogen protocol the plasmid prom24 ( fig9 )( 10 μg ) was digested with dra1 and electroporated into competent x33 cells in a 2 mm cuvette at 1 . 75 kv ( genepulser , bio - rad laboratories , hercules , calif .). selection on ypds with 100 μg / ml zeocin resulted in many colonies . one ( ppckx1 ) was selected for expression studies . the transformant ppckx1 was inoculated into bmgy medium ( 50 ml ) and grown overnight . cells were pelleted , resuspended in bmmy ( containing 0 . 5 % v / v methanol ), diluted to an a 600 = 1 and grown at 30 ° c . with vigorous shaking . additional methanol was added to 0 . 5 % v / v at 24 , 48 and 72 hours post - inoculation . samples were harvested for assay of cytokinin oxidase activity in cell lysates or in culture supernatants . pichia strains x33 ( wt , no insert ) and gs115 , ( secreted human serum albumin insert ) served as controls . use of recombinant cytokinin oxidase in a rapid assay method for cytokinin cytokinins were measured by mixing 100 μl of a buffer mixture containing phosphate buffer ( 250 mm , ph 7 . 0 ), edta ( 2 . 5 mm ) and dcpip ( 0 . 125 mm ), and an excess of recombinant cytokinin oxidase with solutions ( 150 μl ) of zeatin at various concentrations . the net change in absorbance was measured at 590 nm . fig3 illustrates the change in absorbance when the assay is used to measure the cytokinin zeatin . the method is capable of measuring as little as 2 nmol zeatin but , the major advantage of the assay over the prior art is its rapidity . assays can be preformed in as little as five minutes , significantly faster than radioimmunoassays ( macdonald and morris , 1985 ). further , the method can be integrated into cytokinin production systems by coupling the ckx1 gene to such cytokinin producing genes as ipt or tzs , in order to assay cytokinin production in vitro . unregulated and regulated expression of ckx1 constitutively and in the roots of nicotiana tabacum the following procedure , which produces tobacco plants altered to express ckx1 constitutively and in their roots , is a slight modification of the standard protocols described in draper , et al ., 1988 . nicotiana tabacum cultivar xanthi is a standard tobacco line . disarmed agrobacterium tumefaciens strains such as lba4404 ( hoekema , et al ., 1985 ) are used . murashige and skoog salts , phytagar , sucrose , etc . are reagent or tissue - culture grade . three separate constructs were made with the ckx1 coding sequence ( seq . id no . 3 ) to effect three different patterns of ckx1 expression in transformed tobacco plants . constructs were based on the bin19 plasmid primary vector ( which includes an agrobacterium compatible replication origin and kanamycin selection markers , bevan , et al ., 1984 ). the following constructs were made : camv - ckx1 - nos : the cauliflower mosaic virus promoter with a nos enhancer ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 530 , 196 ), are present in pbi121 ( fig5 )( available from clonetech , palo alto , calif .). the β - glucuronidase gene of pbi121 was excised with a bamhi / ecoicri digest . the coding sequence of ckx1 ( seq . id no . 3 ) was obtained by a bglii digest of prom26 ( fig1 )( prom24 ( fig9 ) altered by site - directed mutagenesis to contain another bglii and an xhoi restriction site ). the final construct prom30 ( fig1 ), which induces strong constitutive expression of ckx1 , was created by digesting the altered pbi121 with bamhi and ligating in the ckx1 coding sequence . camv - tet - ckx1 - ocs : the ckx1 coding region of prom26 ( fig1 ) was isolated by bglii digestion and ligated into the bamhi site of puca7 - tx ( gätz , et al ., 1992 ) to form prom32 ( fig1 ). the tetracycline - regulated operator element ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 464 , 758 ) from puca7 - tx and the inserted coding region were excised from prom32 ( fig1 ) by pvuii digestion . the final construct prom29 ( fig1 ), was produced by ligating the excerpt into the sali site of pjl7 ( fig4 ) ( a bin19 type plasmid ). when this construct is introduced into tobacco previously transformed to express the tet repressor protein , no ckx1 activity will be expressed until repression is relieved by addition of tetracycline . this construct may be of particular use in host organisms where strong constitutive expression of ckx1 results in abnormal growth patterns . rb7 - ckx1 - nos : the tobacco rb7 root specific promotor ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 750 , 386 ), was obtained by the following method . a fragment containing the promoter was pcr - amplified from tobacco genomic dna using gacaccattccaagcatacccc ( seq . id no . 19 ) and gttctcactagaaaaatgcccc ( seq . id no . 20 ) as primers . this 1400 bp product was ligated into the pcrii plasmid ( invitrogen ) to produce prom8 ( fig6 ). the hindiii - ecori region of the insert , containing the nematode - specific portion of the promoter , was then excised and ligated into the hindiii - ecori site of pbluescriptii ks +( stratagene ) to produce prom9 ( fig7 ). the ecori - nsii fragment of prom24 ( fig9 ), containing the ckx1 coding sequence , was excised and ligated into the ecori - psti site of prom9 , to make prom28 ( fig1 ). the final construct prom43 ( fig1 ), which induces expression of ckx1 in roots when the transformed plants &# 39 ; roots are attacked by nematodes , was produced by ligating a hindiii - saci fragment of prom28 into the hindiii - saci site of pbi121 ( fig5 ). nicotiana was continuously maintained by axenic shoot tip culture on mss and sub - cultured at 4 week intervals . the three binary plasmid constructs described above were electroporated into the disarmed a . tumefaciens host and transformants were grown under suitable selection ( an , et al . 1985 ). late - log phase cultures were used for transformation . young axenic tobacco leaves ( 3 to 4 weeks after tip culture ) were dissected into 4 to 6 segments , excluding the largest vasculature . segments were cultured on pc , abaxial side up , for 48 hours . the leaf pieces were then soaked in transformed a . tumefaciens culture diluted with water ( 1 : 1 ), for 1 hour . pieces were then placed on the original pc medium for 48 hours . the leaves were then washed with water thoroughly and placed on si medium and removed to fresh si medium every 7 to 10 days . although no adverse developmental effects were observed with nicotiana transformants , the use of a non - substrate cytokinin such as benzylaminopurine , or tetracycline repression , may be needed for the culture of some host plants . shoots were removed onto mssk media when 1 cm long . successive tip culture was carried out for 2 to 3 transfers , after which the transgenic plants were maintained on mss media . in light of the detailed description of the invention and the examples presented above , it can be appreciated that the several objects of the invention are achieved . the explanations and illustrations presented herein are intended to acquaint others skilled in the art with the invention , its principles , and its practical application . those skilled in the art may adapt and apply the invention in its numerous forms , as may be best suited to the requirements of a particular use . accordingly , the specific embodiments of the present invention as set forth are not intended as being exhaustive or limiting of the invention . an , g ., et al ., 1985 : “ new cloning vehicles for transformation of higher plants ,” embo j . 4 : 277 - 84 ault , g ., 1994 : “ type - specific amplification of viral dna using touchdown and hot start pcr ,” j . virol . meth . 46 : 145 - 56 . bechtold , n ., et al ., 1993 : “ in planta agrobacterium mediated gene transfer by infiltration of adult arabidopsis thaliana plants ,” cr acad . sci . paris sciences del la vie / life sciences 316 : 1194 - 99 . bevan , m ., 1984 : “ binary agrobacterium vectors for plant transformation ,” nuc . acids rsrch . 12 : 8711 - 21 . bird , a . f ., et al ., 1980 : “ the involvement of cytokinins in a host - parasite relationship between the tomato ( lycopersicon esculentum ) and a nematode ( meloidogyne javanica ),” parasitoloqy 80 : 497 - 505 . bradford , m ., 1976 : “ a rapid and sensitive 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519 - 27 . van der krol , a . r ., et al ., 1990 : “ inhibition of flower pigmentation by antisense chs genes : promoter and minimal sequence requirements for the antisense effect ,” plant molec . biol . 14 : 457 - 66 . williams , c . a , et al ., 1967 : methods in immunology and immunohistochemistry i p . 319 . thr ile ala phe arg gly arg gly his ser leu met gly gln ala phe gly gly glu gln val trp ile asp val leu arg ala ser leu ala arg gly val ala pro arg ser trp asn asp tyr leu tyr leu thr val gly gly thr leu ser asn ala gly ile ser gly gln ala phe arg his gly pro gln ile ser asn val leu glu met asp val ile thr gly his gly glu met val thr cys ser lys gln leu asn ala asp leu phe asp ala val leu gly thr leu ser tyr val glu gly phe ala phe gln arg asp leu asn lys ser met trp asp asp gly met ser ala ala thr pro ser cys asp leu ala gly ile gln tyr lys thr tyr leu ala arg his thr asp arg ser asp trp val arg his phe gly ala ala lys trp asn arg phe val glu met lys asn lys tyr asp pro lys arg leu leu ser pro gcg gtg gtt tat tac ctg ctg ctg gcc ggg ctg atc gcc tgc tct cat 1547 gca cta gcg gca ggc acg cct gcg ctc gga gac gat cgc ggc cgt ccc 1595 tgg cca gcc tcc ctc gcc gcg ctg gcc ttg gac ggc aag ctc cgg acc 1643 gac agc aac gcg acg gcg gcg gcc tcg acg gac ttc ggc aac atc acg 1691 tcg gcg ctc ccg gcg gcg gtc ctg tac ccg tcg tcc acg ggc gac ctg 1739 gtg gcg ctg ctg agc gcg gcc aac tcc acc ccg ggg tgg ccc tac acc 1787 atc gcg ttc cgc ggc cgc ggc cac tcc ctc atg ggc cag gcc ttc gcc 1835 ccc ggc ggc gtc gtc gtc aac atg gcg tcc ctg ggc gac gcc gcc gcg 1883 ccg ccg cgc atc aac gtg tcc gcg gac ggc cgc tac gtg gac gcc ggc 1931 ggc gag cag gtg tgg atc gac gtg ttg cgc gcg tcg ctg gcg cgc ggc 1979 gly glu gln val trp ile asp val leu arg ala ser leu ala arg gly gtg gcg ccg cgc tcc tgg aac gac tac ctc tac ctc acc gtc ggc ggc 2027 val ala pro arg ser trp asn asp tyr leu tyr leu thr val gly gly acg ctg tcc aac gca ggc atc agc ggc cag gcg ttc cgc cac ggc cca 2075 thr leu ser asn ala gly ile ser gly gln ala phe arg his gly pro cag ata tct aac gtg ctg gag atg gac gtt atc acc ggtacgtgtg 2121 aattatattg ctggggtgtt gactttgtgg tgatcgaacg ca ggc cat ggg gag 2535 atg gtg acg tgc tcc aag cag ctg aac gcg gac ctg ttc gac gcc gtc 2583 met val thr cys ser lys gln leu asn ala asp leu phe asp ala val ctg ggc ggg ctg ggg cag ttc gga gtg atc acc cgg gcc cgg atc gcg 2631 gtg gag ccg gcg ccg gcg cgg gcg cgg tgg gtg cgg ttc gtg tac acc 2679 gac ttc gcg gcg ttc agc gcc gac cag gag cgg ctg acc gcc ccg cgg 2727 ccc ggc ggc ggc ggc gcg tcg ttc ggc ccg atg agc tac gtg gaa ggg 2775 tcg gtg ttc gtg aac cag agc ctg gcg acc gac ctg gcg aac acg ggg 2823 ttc ttc acc gac gcc gac gtc gcc cgg atc gtc gcg ctc gcc ggg gag 2871 cgg aac gcc acc acc gtg tac agc atc gag gcc acg ctc aac tac gac 2919 arg asn ala thr thr val tyr ser ile glu ala thr leu asn tyr asp aac gcc acg gcg gcg gcg gcg gcg gtg gac cag gag ctc gcg tcc gtg 2967 ctg ggc acg ctg agc tac gtg gag ggg ttc gcg ttc cag cgc gac gtg 3015 leu gly thr leu ser tyr val glu gly phe ala phe gln arg asp val gcc tac gcg gcg ttc ctt gac cgg gtg cac ggc gag gag gtg gcg ctc 3063 aac aag ctg ggg ctg tgg cgg gtg ccg cac ccg tgg ctc aac atg ttc 3111 asn lys leu gly leu trp arg val pro his pro trp leu asn met phe gtg ccg cgc tcg cgc atc gcc gac ttc gac cgc ggc gtg ttc aag ggc 3159 atc ctg cag ggc acc gac atc gtc ggc ccg ctc atc gtc tac ccc ctc 3207 tgg gac gac ggc atg tcg gcg gcg acg ccg tct gag gac gtg ttc tac 3361 trp asp asp gly met ser ala ala thr pro ser glu asp val phe tyr gcg gtg tcg ctg ctc ttc tcg tcg gtg gcg ccc aac gac ctg gcg agg 3409 ctg cag gag cag aac agg agg atc ctg cgc ttc tgc gac ctc gcc ggg 3457 leu gln glu gln asn arg arg ile leu arg phe cys asp leu ala gly atc cag tac aag acc tac ctg gcg cgg cac acg gac cgc agt gac tgg 3505 ile gln tyr lys thr tyr leu ala arg his thr asp arg ser asp trp gtc cgc cac ttc ggc gcc gcc aag tgg aat cgc ttc gtg gag atg aag 3553 val arg his phe gly ala ala lys trp asn arg phe val glu met lys aac aag tac gac ccc aag agg ctg ctc tcc ccc ggc cag gac atc ttc 3601 asn lys tyr asp pro lys arg leu leu ser pro gly gln asp ile phe atg gcg gtg gtt tat tac ctg ctg ctg gcc ggg ctg atc gcc tgc tct 48 cat gca cta gcg gca ggc acg cct gcg ctc gga gac gat cgc ggc cgt 96 ccc tgg cca gcc tcc ctc gcc gcg ctg gcc ttg gac ggc aag ctc cgg 144 acc gac agc aac gcg acg gcg gcg gcc tcg acg gac ttc ggc aac atc 192 acg tcg gcg ctc ccg gcg gcg gtc ctg tac ccg tcg tcc acg ggc gac 240 ctg gtg gcg ctg ctg agc gcg gcc aac tcc acc ccg ggg tgg ccc tac 288 acc atc gcg ttc cgc ggc cgc ggc cac tcc ctc atg ggc cag gcc ttc 336 thr ile ala phe arg gly arg gly his ser leu met gly gln ala phe gcc ccc ggc ggc gtc gtc gtc aac atg gcg tcc ctg ggc gac gcc gcc 384 gcg ccg ccg cgc atc aac gtg tcc gcg gac ggc cgc tac gtg gac gcc 432 ggc ggc gag cag gtg tgg atc gac gtg ttg cgc gcg tcg ctg gcg cgc 480 gly gly glu gln val trp ile asp val leu arg ala ser leu ala arg ggc gtg gcg ccg cgc tcc tgg aac gac tac ctc tac ctc acc gtc ggc 528 gly val ala pro arg ser trp asn asp tyr leu tyr leu thr val gly ggc acg ctg tcc aac gca ggc atc agc ggc cag gcg ttc cgc cac ggc 576 gly thr leu ser asn ala gly ile ser gly gln ala phe arg his gly cca cag ata tct aac gtg ctg gag atg gac gtt atc acc ggc cat ggg 624 pro gln ile ser asn val leu glu met asp val ile thr gly his gly gag atg gtg acg tgc tcc aag cag ctg aac gcg gac ctg ttc gac gcc 672 glu met val thr cys ser lys gln leu asn ala asp leu phe asp ala gtc ctg ggc ggg ctg ggg cag ttc gga gtg atc acc cgg gcc cgg atc 720 acc gac ttc gcg gcg ttc agc gcc gac cag gag cgg ctg acc gcc ccg 816 cgg ccc ggc ggc ggc ggc gcg tcg ttc ggc ccg atg agc tac gtg gaa 864 ggg tcg gtg ttc gtg aac cag agc ctg gcg acc gac ctg gcg aac acg 912 ggg ttc ttc acc gac gcc gac gtc gcc cgg atc gtc gcg ctc gcc ggg 960 gag cgg aac gcc acc acc gtg tac agc atc gag gcc acg ctc aac tac 1008 gac aac gcc acg gcg gcg gcg gcg gcg gtg gac cag gag ctc gcg tcc 1056 gtg ctg ggc acg ctg agc tac gtg gag ggg ttc gcg ttc cag cgc gac 1104 val leu gly thr leu ser tyr val glu gly phe ala phe gln arg asp gtg gcc tac gcg gcg ttc ctt gac cgg gtg cac ggc gag gag gtg gcg 1152 ctc aac aag ctg ggg ctg tgg cgg gtg ccg cac ccg tgg ctc aac atg 1200 ttc gtg ccg cgc tcg cgc atc gcc gac ttc gac cgc ggc gtg ttc aag 1248 ggc atc ctg cag ggc acc gac atc gtc ggc ccg ctc atc gtc tac ccc 1296 ctc aac aaa tcc atg tgg gac gac ggc atg tcg gcg gcg acg ccg tct 1344 leu asn lys ser met trp asp asp gly met ser ala ala thr pro ser gag gac gtg ttc tac gcg gtg tcg ctg ctc ttc tcg tcg gtg gcg ccc 1392 aac gac ctg gcg agg ctg cag gag cag aac agg agg atc ctg cgc ttc 1440 tgc gac ctc gcc ggg atc cag tac aag acc tac ctg gcg cgg cac acg 1488 cys asp leu ala gly ile gln tyr lys thr tyr leu ala arg his thr gac cgc agt gac tgg gtc cgc cac ttc ggc gcc gcc aag tgg aat cgc 1536 asp arg ser asp trp val arg his phe gly ala ala lys trp asn arg ttc gtg gag atg aag aac aag tac gac ccc aag agg ctg ctc tcc ccc 1584 phe val glu met lys asn lys tyr asp pro lys arg leu leu ser pro tyr val glu gly ser val phe val xaa gln ser leu ala thr asp leu