title: Expression of the yeast cpd1 gene in tobacco confers resistance to the fungal toxin cercosporin.
abstract: Many phytopathogenic species of the fungus Cercospora produce cercosporin, a photoactivated perylenequinone toxin that belongs to a family of photosensitizers, which absorb light energy and produce extremely cytotoxic, reactive oxygen species. The cpd1 (cercosporin photosensitizer detoxification) gene of yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), which encodes for a novel protein with significant similarity to the FAD-dependent pyridine nucleotide reductases, confers resistance to cercosporin when over-expressed in yeast. The aim of this work was to investigate the potential ability of cpd1 gene to confer resistance to cercosporin when expressed in tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum). Transgenic tobacco plants were produced using Agrobacterium tumefaciens, with cpd1 integrated as the gene of interest. We report here that expression of cpd1 gene in tobacco can mediate resistance to cercosporin. The involvement of cpd1 gene in the detoxification of the cercosporin reinforces previous observations, which suggested that resistance to cercosporin is mediated by a mechanism involving toxin reduction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, School of Agriculture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54 124, Greece.
authors.forename: Madesis
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Panagiotis
authors.forename: Kalantidis
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kritonas
authors.forename: Nianiou Obeidat
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Irini
authors.forename: Chatzidimitriou
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kiriaki
authors.forename: Panopoulos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nicolaos
authors.forename: Tsaftaris
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Athanasios
mesh_terms: D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D024861:Genetic Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D009247:NADH, NADPH Oxidoreductases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010569:Perylene / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D010569:Perylene; C026363:cercosporin; C443623:AIF1 protein, S cerevisiae; D009247:NADH, NADPH Oxidoreductases