Ethanol inducible system (AlcR / AlcA)

To obtain any of our modifications of the original AlcR / AlcA system, you first need to obtain an MTA from Syngenta. Please contact us for details whom to write to.

The enthanol-inducible system was developed for plants by scientists at Zeneca (now Syngenta). The initial application to Arabidopsis was published in

Roslan, H. A., Salter, M. G., Wood, C. D., White, M. R., Croft, K. P., Robson, F., Coupland, G., Doonan, J., Laufs, P., Tomsett, A. B., and Caddick, M. X. (2001). Characterization of the ethanol-inducible alc gene-expression system in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J 28, 225-235. PubMed

Our modifications of the ethanol-inducible system were published in:

Tissue specific induction:

Maizel, A., and Weigel, D. (2004) Temporally and spatially controlled induction of gene expression in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant J 38, 164-171. Download here.

Ubiquitious induction:

Leibfried, A., To, J.P.C., Busch, W., Stehling, S., Kehle, A., Demar, M., Kieber, J.J., Lohmann, J.U. (2005) WUSCHEL controls meristem function by direct regulation of cytokinin-inducible response regulators. Nature 438, 1172-1175. Download here.

Both vector sets can be used for inducible expression of cDNAs and artificial microRNAs.

We have developed a versatile system for cloning of inducible constructs, which consists of a small shuttle vector containing the AlcA promoter followed by a MCS and terminator (pBJ36_AlcA) and two binaries containing either the 35S or LFY promoter driving the AlcR gene  (pMLBART_AlcR; pAM54). The gene or amiRNA of interest is cloned into pBJ36_AlcA and the cassette including AlcA promoter and terminator is then transfered to the desired binary via a NotI fragment. The resulting construct will thus provide to the plant the AlcR transcription factor as well as the AlcA dependent expression unit on a single T-DNA.

Before contacting us for vectors, please consult the table below first.