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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #354460
Research Project: Biotechnology Applied to Ornamental Plants for Controlling Migratory Nematodes

Location: Floral and Nursery Plants Research

Title: Transgenic Lilium longiglorum plants containing the bar-uidA gene controlled by the rice RPC1, Agrobacterium rolD, mas2, and CaMV 355 promotors

Author
item Kamo, Kathryn
item Thilmony, Roger
item Bauchan, Gary

Submitted to: Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/12/2018
Publication Date: 1/23/2019
Citation: Kamo, K.K., Thilmony, R.L., Bauchan, G.R. 2019. Transgenic Lilium longiglorum plants containing the bar-uidA gene controlled by the rice RPC1, Agrobacterium rolD, mas2, and CaMV 355 promotors. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture. 13(2):303-312.

Interpretive Summary: Lilies are an important floral crop grown in gardens and sold as cut flowers and pot plants. Field-grown lily bulbs are susceptible to feeding by root lesion nematodes that can cause death of the plant. The fumigants and other chemicals used to control nematodes may be banned in the future, so genetic resistance to nematodes is needed. ARS scientists in Beltsville, MD are developing nematode-resistant lilies by introducing genes in the roots of lilies that deter nematodes. In this study, they tested three different gene promoters to see which ones provided the optimal gene expression in the roots of lilies. One promoter, called mas2, was found to be potentially useful for engineering lilies for nematode resistance because it directed high levels of expression in roots and very low levels in shoots.

Technical Abstract: A major problem when growing lilies in the field is infection by Pratylenchus penetrans, the root lesion nematode. P. penetrans is a migratory nematode that penetrates the root and then moves throughout its cortex to feed. A root-specific promoter would be useful for transgene expression of nematode resistance genes. In this study the bar-uidA fusion gene was placed under control of either the rolD, mas2, rice RPC1 or CaMV 35S promoters, and gene constructs were used to transform Lilium longiflorum. Gus was expressed throughout the cortex and stele of roots containing the rolD, mas2, and CaMV 35S promoters and limited to the stele with the RPC1 promoter. Levels of GUS specific activity were relatively low in young leaves with rolD and mas2 promoters as compared to the CaMV 35S promoter. Levels of GUS specific activity were comparable to roots with the mas2 and CaMV 35S promoters. These results showed that the mas2 promoter may be useful when expressing a gene for P. penetrans resistance preferentially in roots of lily.