title: Enhanced disease resistance conferred by expression of an antimicrobial magainin analog in transgenic tobacco.
abstract: Magainins are a group of short peptides originally isolated from frog skin and thought to function as a natural defense mechanism against infection due to their antimicrobial properties. The engineered magainin analog peptide Myp30 was found to inhibit spore germination of the oomycete, Peronospora tabacina (Adam) in vitro, and the growth of a bacterial pathogen Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora (Jones). Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) plants expressing Myp30 were evaluated for resistance to these pathogens. The expression of the peptide only to an extracellular location resulted in significant reduction in sporulation and lesion size due to P. tabacina infection. A significant increase in resistance to the bacterial pathogen was also observed regardless of the targeting location of the peptide.
authors.affiliation: THRI, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40546-0236, USA. agr022@pop.uky.edu
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Lawrence
authors.forename: H Y
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Babbitt
authors.forename: W T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Bass
authors.forename: I B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Maiti
authors.forename: N P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Everett
mesh_terms: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000235:genetics* / Q000494:pharmacology; D015870:Gene Expression; D018525:Germination; D009868:Oomycetes / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology*; D016973:Pectobacterium carotovorum / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D010947:Plants, Toxic; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides