Regulatory effect of cotton leaf curl virus AC2 on virion sense promoter

The AC2 gene of cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV) was obtained by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The total DNA of the CLCuV infected tomato leaves was used as template, and the amplified DNA fragment was inserted into a cloning vector. Transient expression vectors were constructed by inserting the AC2 gene into downstream region of CaMV 35S promoter. These constructs were delivered into tobacco and cotton leaf cells for transient expression by particle bombardment. Tbe results indicated that the virion sense promoter was activated by AC2 and its activity increased remarkably. However, the activity of transactivated virion sense promoter was still lower than that of the complementary sense promoter. The expression pattern of transactivated virion sense promoter was similar to that of the complementary sense promoter, namely with high activity in both mesophyll and vascular tissues. The: possibility of application of AC2 in plant genetic manipulation was also explored.