Expression of Mn-sod, PAL1, aos1 and HPL genes in soybean plants overexpressing the NmDef02 defensin

• Published in: Transgenic research Vol. 32; no. 3; pp. 223 - 233
• Main Authors: Morales, Alejandro E., Soto, Natacha, Delgado, Celia, Hernández, Yuniet, Carrillo, Leonardo, Ferrero, Camilo, Enríquez, Gil A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.06.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animal Genetics and Genomics; Antifungal activity; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedical Engineering/Biotechnology; Biotechnology; Brief Report; Crop improvement; Defensins; Defensins - genetics; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes; Genetic Engineering; Glycine max - genetics; Glycine max - metabolism; Life Sciences; MnSOD gene; Molecular Medicine; Nicotiana - genetics; Nicotiana - metabolism; Pal1 gene; Plant Genetics and Genomics; Plants, Genetically Modified - metabolism; Superoxide dismutase; Superoxide Dismutase - genetics; Transgenic plants; Transgenics; Defense genes; Transgenic plants; Soybean; NmDef02
• ISSN: 0962-8819; 1573-9368
• DOI: 10.1007/s11248-023-00350-0

Plant defensins are a potential tool in crop improvement programs through biotechnology. Their antifungal action makes them attractive molecules for the production of transgenic plants. Information is currently lacking on what happens to the expression of defense genes in transgenic plants that overexpress a defensin. Here we show the relative expression of four defense-related genes: Mn-sod, PAL1, aos1 and HPL evaluated in two transgenic soybean events (Def1 and Def17) constitutively expressing the NmDef02 defensin gene from Nicotiana megalosiphon . The expression of these defense genes showed a differential profile in the transgenic events, with the increased expression of the aos1 gene and the repression of the Mn-sod gene in both events, when compared to the non-transgenic control. Furthermore, the expression of the PAL1 gene only increased in the Def17 event. The results indicate that although there were some changes in the expression of defense genes in transgenic plants overexpressing the defensin NmDef02; the morphoagronomic parameters evaluated were similar to the non-transgenic control. Understanding the molecular changes that occur in these transgenic plants could be of interest in the short, medium and long term.