The abundance of the 96 most abundant EST cluster sequences in a wheat lemma/palea cDNA library was investigated in a range of cDNA libraries made from various wheat tissues. 30 cDNA sequences showing highly enhanced abundance in lemma, palea and glume tissues over leaf, stem, embryo, endosperm and root tissue were selected for further analysis. These wheat EST cluster sequences were used to identify rice cDNA homologs. The abundance of the rice cDNA homologs was compared in rice leaf and panicle (includes lemma and palea) cDNA libraries. Rice cDNAs showing preferential expression in the panicle were then used to identify homologous rice genomic DNA clones, the putative promoter sequences have been identified and cloned.