title: Agrobacterium-mediated transient gene expression and silencing: a rapid tool for functional gene assay in potato.
abstract: Potato is the third most important food crop worldwide. However, genetic and genomic research of potato has lagged behind other major crops due to the autopolyploidy and highly heterozygous nature associated with the potato genome. Reliable and technically undemanding techniques are not available for functional gene assays in potato. Here we report the development of a transient gene expression and silencing system in potato. Gene expression or RNAi-based gene silencing constructs were delivered into potato leaf cells using Agrobacterium-mediated infiltration. Agroinfiltration of various gene constructs consistently resulted in potato cell transformation and spread of the transgenic cells around infiltration zones. The efficiency of agroinfiltration was affected by potato genotypes, concentration of Agrobacterium, and plant growth conditions. We demonstrated that the agroinfiltration-based transient gene expression can be used to detect potato proteins in sub-cellular compartments in living cells. We established a double agroinfiltration procedure that allows to test whether a specific gene is associated with potato late blight resistance pathway mediated by the resistance gene RB. This procedure provides a powerful approach for high throughput functional assay for a large number of candidate genes in potato late blight resistance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States of America.
authors.forename: Pudota B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Bhaskar
authors.forename: Muthusubramanian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Venkateshwaran
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Jean-Michel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ané
authors.forename: Jiming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D020868:Gene Silencing; D005821:Genetic Techniques; D018745:Genome, Plant; D005838:Genotype; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D055750:Phytophthora infestans / Q000378:metabolism; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D034622:RNA Interference; D012231:Rhizobium / Q000235:genetics*; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins