Expression of a cystatin transgene can confer resistance to root lesion nematodes in Lilium longiflorum cv. 'Nellie White'.
Lilium longiflorum cv. 'Nellie White' assumes a great economic importance as cut flowers, being one of the most valuable species (annual pot plants value above $20,000,000) in terms of wholesales in the US. The root lesion nematode Pratylenchus penetrans (RLN) constitutes one of the main pests for lily producers due to the significant root damage it causes. Our efforts have focused on the generation of soybean hairy roots (as a transient test model) and stable transgenic lilies overexpressing a modified rice cystatin (Oc-IΔD86) transgene and challenged with root lesion nematodes. Lily transformation was achieved by gene gun co-bombardment using both a pBluescript-based vector containing the cystatin gene and pDM307 that contains a bar gene for phosphinothricin selection. Both soybean hairy roots and lilies overexpressing the OcIΔD86 transgene exhibited enhanced resistance to RLN infection by means of nematode reduction up to 75 ± 5% on the total number of nematodes. In addition, lily plants overexpressing OcIΔD86 displayed an increase of plant mass and better growth performance in comparison to wild-type plants, thereby demonstrating an alternative strategy for increasing the yield and reducing nematode damage to this important floral crop.
Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit, U.S. National Arboretum, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) ARS, BARC West, 10300 Baltimore Avenue, Building 010A Room 126, Beltsville, MD, 20705-2350, USA, paulo.vieira@ars.usda.gov.
Paulo
P
Vieira
Sarah
S
Wantoch
Catherine J
CJ
Lilley
David J
DJ
Chitwood
Howard J
HJ
Atkinson
Kathryn
K
Kamo
D000818:Animals; D015891:Cystatins / Q000235:genetics*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D027762:Lilium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology*; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics; D018517:Plant Roots; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000469:parasitology; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology; D019076:Transgenes; D014431:Tylenchoidea / Q000472:pathogenicity*
D015891:Cystatins