Fig. 1.

Expression vectors. a General structure. The plasmids contain as a regulatory region an expression control element (ECE) derived from the promoter of psbA2 (PpsbA) of the cyanobacterium M. aeruginosa K-81. The set of primers, VZ-F2 and VZ-R, for PCR is shown. b Vector for GFP expression. The GFP gene was introduced into the cloning sites of NdeI and SmaI to create pGFP500 (+AU) and pGFP461c (−AU). The AU-box nucleotide sequence (UAAAUACA) was deleted in pGFP461c for stable accumulation of the GFP mRNA. The nucleotides ATG at the NdeI site represent a start codon