ARS | Publication request: TRANSFORMATION OF ANTHURIUM WITH TRANSGENES FOR BACTERIAL BLIGHT AND NEMATODE RESISTANCE

Submitted to: In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology - Plants
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: January 10, 2006
Publication Date: June 3, 2006
Citation: Fitch, M.M., Leong, T., Albert, H.H., Schenck, S., Moore, P.H., Gonsalves, D. 2006. Transformation of Anthurium with Transgenes for Bacterial Blight and Nematode Resistance. In Vitro Cellular and Developmental Biology - Plants 2007: p35.

Technical Abstract: Anthurium transformation was undertaken to engineer plants for resistance to bacterial blight caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. dieffenbachiae and to the nematodes Radopholus simile and Meloidogyne javanica. Agrobacterium tumefaciens transformation of embryogenic calli of ‘Marian Seefurth’ was shown to be highly efficient but ‘Midori’ was more difficult to transform. Three different A. tumefaciens strains, LBA4404, EHA105, and AGLØ, were used for delivery of 6 different gene constructs. The constructs were Arabidopsis NPR1, attacin, T4 lysozyme, and attacin1T4 lysozyme for bacterial blight resistance, and cystatin and cystatin1cowpea trypsin inhibitor for nematode resistance. Each construct resulted in transgenic plants. LBA4404 was used in most experiments. Selectively growing sectors of putative transgenic calli were observed 5 weeks after co-cultivation. An efficiency level of 9 lines per 100 mg FW of co-cultivated embryogenic callus clumps was obtained for ‘Marian Seefurth’ but ,2 lines per 100 mg FW was obtained for ‘Midori’. More than 600 lines were selected from ‘Marian Seefurth’ but only 42 lines from ‘Midori’. PCR, NPTII ELISA, and Southern hybridization were used to confirm the presence of the selection and/or bacterial resistance transgenes. Bioassays for resistance to the pests will be conducted on regenerated plants.