A chimeric gene which is expressed in plant cells comprising:
a) a promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), wherein said promoter is the CaMV(19S) promoter or the CaMV(35S) promoter, operably linked to a DNA sequence which is heterologous with respect to the promoter, wherein:

1. the promoter regulates the transcription of the DNA sequence, and
2. the DNA sequence encodes a polypeptide conferring increased antibiotic resistance to a plant or plant cell containing the DNA sequence relative to a w ild-type plant or plant cell

A plant cell comprising a chimeric gene which comprises:

a) a promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), wherein said promoter is the CaMV(19S) promoter or the CaMV(35S) promoter, operably linked to a DNA sequence which is heterologous with respect to the promoter, wherein:

1. the promoter regulates the transcription of the DNA sequence, and
2. the DNA sequence encodes a polypeptide conferring increased antibiotic resistance to the plant cell relative to a wild-type plant cell.

An intermediate plant transformation plasmid which comprises:

a) a region of homology to an A. tumefaciens vector;
b) a T-DNA border from A. tumefaciens, and
c) a chimeric gene,
wherein the chimeric gene is located between the T-DNA border and the region of homology,
said chimeric gene comprising a promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), wherein said promoter is the CaMV(19S) promoter or the CaMV(35S) promoter, operably linked to a DNA sequence which is heterologous with respect to the promoter, wherein: a) the promoter regulates the transcription of the DNA sequence, and
b) the DNA sequence encodes a polypeptide conferring increased antibiotic resistance to a plant or plant cell containing the DNA sequence relative to a wild-type plant or plant cell.

A plant transformation vector which comprises a modified plant tumor inducing plasmid of A. tumefaciens which is capable of inserting a chimeric gene into susceptible plant cells, wherein the chimeric gene comprises a promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), wherein said promoter is the CaMV(19S) promoter or the CaMV(35S) promoter, operably linked to a DNA sequence which is heterologous with respect to the promoter, wherein: a) the promoter regulates the transcription of the DNA sequence, and
b) the DNA sequence encodes a polypeptide conferring increased antibiotic resistance to a plant or plant cell containing the DNA sequence relative to a wild-type plant or plant cell.

A differentiated dicotyledonous plant comprising plant cells containing a chimeric gene which comprises a promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), wherein said promoter is the CaMV(19S) promoter or the CaMV(35S) promoter, operably linked to a DNA sequence encoding said polypeptide which is heterologous with respect to the promoter, wherein: a) the promoter regulates the transcription of the DNA sequence, and
b) the DNA sequence encodes a polypeptide conferring increased antibiotic resistance to the plant relative to a wild-type plant.