Molecular characterisation of Arabidopsis lines tagged with a promoterless gus gene

Promoter trapping has been performed through integration of a T-DNA containing a promoterless beta-glucuronidase (gus) reporter gene into the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana. A collection of T-DNA-tagged Arabidopsis lines has been produced with the vector pdeltagusBin19. Part of this collection was screened for lines with specific gus expression patterns. Here we report on the identification of two lines with gus expression in anthers and seeds. Both lines harbour complex T-DNA inserts. In one line, the integration of the T-DNA causes a male sterility phenotype and gus expression is developmentally regulated in anthers and flower bases. In the other line expression of gus is seen in the anther and seed endosperm.