Transgenic sweet potato expressing thionin from barley gives resistance to black rot disease caused by Ceratocystis fimbriata in leaves and storage roots

• Published in: Plant cell reports Vol. 31; no. 6; pp. 987 - 997
• Main Authors: Muramoto, Nobuhiko, Tanaka, Tomoko, Shimamura, Takashi, Mitsukawa, Norihiro, Hori, Etsuko, Koda, Katsunori, Otani, Motoyasu, Hirai, Masana, Nakamura, Kenzo, Imaeda, Takao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.06.2012; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Agrochemicals; Antifungal Agents - pharmacology; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides - genetics; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides - metabolism; Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides - pharmacology; Ascomycota - drug effects; Ascomycota - growth & development; Ascomycota - physiology; Barley; beta-Amylase - genetics; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Cell Biology; Ceratocystis fimbriata; Cultivars; Disease Resistance - drug effects; Disease Resistance - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression - drug effects; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - drug effects; Genetic Vectors - genetics; Hordeum - drug effects; Hordeum - metabolism; Hordeum vulgare; Ipomoea batatas - drug effects; Ipomoea batatas - genetics; Ipomoea batatas - microbiology; Leaves; Life Sciences; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Original Paper; Peptides; Plant Biochemistry; Plant Diseases - immunology; Plant Diseases - microbiology; Plant growth; Plant Leaves - drug effects; Plant Leaves - genetics; Plant Leaves - microbiology; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plant Proteins - pharmacology; Plant Roots - drug effects; Plant Roots - genetics; Plant Roots - microbiology; Plant Sciences; Plants; Plants, Genetically Modified; Plasmids - genetics; Potatoes; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; Roots; Solanum tuberosum; Transformation, Genetic - drug effects; Transgenic plants; Vegetables; Black rot resistance; Sweet potato; Thionin; Storage roots; Monocotyledones; Disease; Convolvulaceae; Fungi; Gramineae; Dicotyledones; Ceratocystis fimbriata; Angiospermae; Transgenic plant; Solanaceae; Ipomoea batatas; Ascomycota; Barley; Vegetals; Hordeum vulgare; Root; Solanum tuberosum; Plant leaf; Resistance; Rot; Spermatophyta
• ISSN: 0721-7714; 1432-203X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00299-011-1217-5

Black rot of sweet potato caused by pathogenic fungus Ceratocystis fimbriata severely deteriorates both growth of plants and post-harvest storage. Antimicrobial peptides from various organisms have broad range activities of killing bacteria, mycobacteria, and fungi. Plant thionin peptide exhibited anti-fungal activity against C. fimbriata . A gene for barley α-hordothionin (αHT) was placed downstream of a strong constitutive promoter of E12Ω or the promoter of a sweet potato gene for β-amylase of storage roots, and introduced into sweet potato commercial cultivar Kokei No. 14. Transgenic E12Ω:αHT plants showed high-level expression of αHT mRNA in both leaves and storage roots. Transgenic β-Amy:αHT plants showed sucrose-inducible expression of αHT mRNA in leaves, in addition to expression in storage roots. Leaves of E12Ω:αHT plants exhibited reduced yellowing upon infection by C. fimbriata compared to leaves of non-transgenic Kokei No. 14, although the level of resistance was weaker than resistance cultivar Tamayutaka. Storage roots of both E12Ω:αHT and β-Amy:αHT plants exhibited reduced lesion areas around the site inoculated with C. fimbriata spores compared to Kokei No. 14, and some of the transgenic lines showed resistance level similar to Tamayutaka. Growth of plants and production of storage roots of these transgenic plants were not significantly different from non-transgenic plants. These results highlight the usefulness of transgenic sweet potato expressing antimicrobial peptide to reduce damages of sweet potato from the black rot disease and to reduce the use of agricultural chemicals.