Engineering root-knot nematode-resistant tomato with cystatin and chitinase genes
Date Issued
2010
Date
2010
Author(s)
Chan, Yuan-Li
Abstract
Root-knot nematodes (RKN, Meloidogyne spp,) are a major pest of many plant species and cause global economic loss. Paecilomyces javanicus chitinase gene (PjCHI-1) and Colocasia esculenta cysteine protease inhibitor gene (CeCPI), driven by a CaMV35S promoter were delivered into a heat-tolerant tomato inbreeding line, CLN2468D, respectively. When infected with RKN, transgenic T1 lines overexpressing CeCPI displayed a pronounced reduction in the numbers of galls and egg mass. Additionally, a much lower proportion of female nematodes was observed in transgenic plants than it in control plants. The study demonstrated that CeCPI has inhibitory functions in the early RKN infection stage as well as in the production of offspring, which may result from intervention in sex determination. Similarly, transgenic T1 plants with high endochitinase activity exhibited a reduction in the number of eggs and egg masses when infected with RKN. The eggs found in transgenic tomato showed low chitin component in eggshell compared to the eggs collected from control plants. Egg mass in transgenic plants exhibited higher chitinase activity than in control. Furthermore, only one-third of eggs in transgenic plants developed into multi-cell/J1 stage. Our work demonstrated that PjCHI-1 can effectively reduce the production of eggs and repress the embryogenesis of M. incognita. The present endeavor hence, implicates the feasibility of a novel agro-biotech strategy for preventing crop damages by RKN.
Subjects
cystatin
chitinase
Meloidogyne incognita
tomato
Type
thesis
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