Disclosed herein are methods and means of achieving enhanced expression of
a target nucleotide sequence in a transgenic organism, which methods
comprise the steps of: (i) providing an organism in which
post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) is suppressed, (ii)
associating said target nucleotide sequence with one or more heterologous
Matrix Attachment Region (MARs), and (iii) causing or permitting
expression from the target nucleotide sequence in the organism.
Unexpectedly, the MARs do not merely relieve gene silencing, but can
actually lead to expression levels higher than can be achieved in
wild-type organisms and higher than expression levels in organisms in
which PTGS is suppressed but where the MARs are not employed.