Abstract
The study of gene expression in eukaryotes has been greatly advanced using techniques of DNA transfection. Transient expression assay system by using freshly prepared protoplasts is one of the most powerful tools in plant research to understand the basic biochemical and molecular mechanisms for environmental stress perception, signal transduction, and tolerance gene expression. In our group, though we have utilized transient expression systems by using leaf mesophyll protoplasts in Arabidopsis and rice, we had not obtained protoplasts from leaves of soybean, which is one of the major crop plant, by using similar widely used methods developed by Dr. Sheen. Based on the previous literature, compared with the other legumes such as cowpea and pea plants, it appeared to be more difficult to obtain protoplasts from leaves of soybean. However, here we report that we have established a rapid and sensitive transient expression system for soybean by using leaf mesophyll protoplasts derived from leaflets of trifoliate leaves of 3-week-old plants. By using this system, we have demonstrated that soybean AREB homologs, GmAREBs can function as transcriptional activators in soybean cells.
