A recombinant nucleic acid containing a transcriptional enhancer from a rice .alpha.Amy8 gene, a promoter operably linked to the enhancer, and a coding sequence operably linked to the promoter and encoding a transcript. Also disclosed is a stably transformed plant cell or a transgenic plant containing a recombinant nucleic acid described above, or a similar recombinant nucleic acid with a plurality of a rice .alpha.Amy3 enhancer.