Over 75 published genomic DNA sequences from several higher plants have been collected and flanking regions of the leader sequences have been analysed. In a majority of the plants, the first AUG codon on processed mRNA acted as a translation initiation site. The consensus sequence for the context was TAAACAATGGCT (on plus strand of DNA). This differed from the earlier suggestion for eukaryotic mRNAs based mainly on data from animals. Leader sequences were generally 40-80 nucleotides in length and were A+T rich. Adenine was present in a majority of the cases at the transcription start site which was flanked by pyrimidine bases. The putative TATA box was present 32 +/- 7 nucleotides upstream from the transcription initiation site. The consensus sequence for TATA box and surrounding region was TCACTATATATAG.