In one aspect the present application discloses a chimeric gene comprising (a) a first nucleic acid sequence comprising at least 400 consecutive nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2 or a nucleic acid sequence having at least 80% sequence identity thereto any of which confers stress inducibility on said chimeric gene (b) a second nucleic acid sequence encoding an expression product of interest which is involved in the response of a cotton plant to stress and optionally (c) a transcription termination and polyadenylation sequence. In another aspect the application discloses a cotton plant cell comprising (a) a chimeric gene comprising a first nucleic acid sequence comprising at least 400 consecutive nucleotides of SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2 or a nucleic acid sequence having at least 80 sequence identity thereto any of which confers stress inducibility on said chimeric gene (b) a second nucleic acid sequence encoding an expression product of interest and optionally (c) a transcription termination and polyadenylation sequence. In addition the present application discloses a cotton plant a method of expressing a transgene in cotton under stress conditions a method of producing a cotton plant a method of detecting the expression of a transgene under stress conditions and a method for modulating the resistance of a cotton plant to stress as characterized in the claims.
