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Title: UNPREDICTABLE PHENOTYPE CHANGE CONNECTED WITH AGROBACTERIUM TUMEFACIENS MEDIATED TRANSFORMATION OF NON-RIPENING TOMATO MUTANT

Author
item BARTOSZEWSKI, G - WARSAW AGRIC UNIV POLAND
item FEDOROWICZ, O - WARSAW AGRIC UNIV POLAND
item MALEPSZY, S - WARSAW AGRIC UNIV POLAND
item Smigocki, Anna
item NIEMIROWICZ-S, K - WARSAW AGRIC UNIV POLAND

Submitted to: Biology and Biotechology of the Plant Hormone Ethylene
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/15/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The plant hormone ethylene regulates many aspects of physiological responses in plants, including fruit ripening. In the non-ripening tomato mutant (nor), fruit have a characteristic yellow color that is associated with the lack of production of ethylene. We have introduced three different genes into the nor mutant in order to study their effect on fruit tripening. Three of the 18 genetically modified plants that we recovered exhibited normal fruit ripening, i.e. they produced red fruits. This suggests to us that the process of introducing genes into the nor mutant may in itself affect fruit ripening. Further research is in progress to determine the mechanism that may be involved in this process. Because of the global importance of tomato production, any improvement in understanding the ripening process wil have capital economic impact. Scientists working on improving the shelf life of tomatoes will use these results.

Technical Abstract: The most characteristic feature of the non-ripening tomato nor mutant is the yellow color of fruits at the stage of full maturity. These fruits do not synthesize climacteric ethylene or accumulate lycopene. The nor gene has been subject to intensive studies due to its impact on fruit ripening. In these experiments, the nor mutant was transformed with three Agrobacterium tumefaciens strains which contained different binary plasmid (pBI121, pRUR528 and pHSCKn312). In total, 18 transgenic plants were regenerated (5 with pBI121, 5 with pRUR528 and 8 with pHSCKn312) and three of them showed normally ripening red fruits. All the other plants as well as the plants regenerated in vitro as controls had yellow fruits, typical of the nor mutant. These results suggest the influence of transformation events on phenotype reversion. Further research is needed to check the nor gene stability and to identify the reasons for reversion.