title: Monitoring the efficacy of mutated Allium sativum leaf lectin in transgenic rice against Rhizoctonia solani.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Rice sheath blight, caused by Rhizoctonia solani is one of the most devastating diseases of rice. It is associated with significant reduction in rice productivity worldwide. A mutant variant of mannose binding Allium sativum leaf agglutinin (mASAL) was previously reported to exhibit strong antifungal activity against R. solani. In this study, the mASAL gene has been evaluated for its in planta antifungal activity in rice plants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  mASAL was cloned into pCAMBIA1301 binary vector under the control of CaMV35S promoter. It was expressed in an elite indica rice cv. IR64 by employing Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Molecular analyses of transgenic plants confirmed the presence and stable integration of mASAL gene. Immunohistofluorescence analysis of various tissue sections of plant parts clearly indicated the constitutive expression of mASAL. The segregation pattern of mASAL transgene was observed in T1 progenies in a 3:1 Mendelian ratio. The expression of mASAL was confirmed in T0 and T1 plants through western blot analysis followed by ELISA. In planta bioassay of transgenic lines against R. solani exhibited an average of 55 % reduction in sheath blight percentage disease index (PDI).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study opens up the possibility of engineering rice plants with the antifungal gene mASAL, conferring resistance to sheath blight.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biology, Bose Institute, Centenary Campus, P1/12, CIT Scheme, VIIM, Kankurgachi, Kolkata, 700054, West Bengal, India. prithwi11@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Prithwi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biology, Bose Institute, Centenary Campus, P1/12, CIT Scheme, VIIM, Kankurgachi, Kolkata, 700054, West Bengal, India. write2senjuti@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Senjuti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sen
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biology, Bose Institute, Centenary Campus, P1/12, CIT Scheme, VIIM, Kankurgachi, Kolkata, 700054, West Bengal, India. joydeepchakraborty86@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Joydeep
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
authors.affiliation: Division of Plant Biology, Bose Institute, Centenary Campus, P1/12, CIT Scheme, VIIM, Kankurgachi, Kolkata, 700054, West Bengal, India. sampa@jcbose.ac.in.
authors.forename: Sampa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
mesh_terms: D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005737:Garlic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D012275:Oryza / Q000187:drug effects*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D037121:Plant Lectins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000935:Antifungal Agents; D037121:Plant Lectins