Comparison of the activities of CaMV 35S and FMV 34S promoter derivatives in Catharanthus roseus cells transiently and stably transformed by particle bombardment.

Activities of several CaMV 35S and FMV 34S promoter derivatives fused to the gusA reporter gene were compared in suspension-cultured Catharanthus roseus cells that were transiently and stably transformed using particle bombardment. Our data demonstrate that the 35S and a deletion derivative of the 34S promoter combined with particle bombardment form useful tools for genetic engineering of C. roseus cells. Our results disagree on several points with activities of 35S and 34S promoter derivatives reported for tobacco, indicating that absolute and relative promoter activities can differ between plant species.