MPOB has identified genetic engineering as a promising technology which can be utilized to face challenges such as labour shortage, limited land resources and fluctuations in commodity prices. The production of transgenic oil palm with useful genes has a clear advantage as it could increase the return per unit area. Expression of foreign genes in a particular plant species requires a constitutive or tissue-specific promoter to ensure that the gene will be functional and will enhance the production of the targeted trait. Constitutive promoters are important for ensuring that a specific gene transferred into a plant will be functional in all the plant tissues. They are also important for expressing reporter and selectable marker genes required for establishing a reliable transformation system for a particular plant species. Constitutive promoters can be used to express any gene in any tissue plant species, in addition to the species from which it was isolated.

Main Research: Dr Ahmad Parveez Ghulam Kadir