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Title: RESPONSE OF TRANSGENIC 'ROYAL GALA' APPLE (MALUS X DOMESTICA BORKH.) SHOOTS, CONTAINING THE MODIFIED CECROPIN MB39 GENE, TO ERWINIA AMYLOVORA

Author
item LIU, QINGZHONG - CONTRACT EMPLOYEE
item Salih, Sarbagh
item MENG, RONGONG - ARS/HCRL, CORVALLIS, OR
item OWENS, LOWELL - RETIRED
item Hammerschlag, Freddi

Submitted to: HortScience
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/26/2000
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Transgenic Royal Gala' apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) shoots were obtained by Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer using the plasmid binary vector pGV-osm-AC with a T-DNA encoding a chimeric gene consisting of a secretory sequence from barley alpha-amylase joined to the modified cecropin MB39 coding sequence, and placed under the control of a wound-inducible, osmotin promoter from tobacco. The integration of the cecropin MB39 gene into apple was confirmed by Southern blot analysis. The transformation efficiency was 1.5 % when internodes from etiolated shoots were used as explants and 2 % when leaf explants were used. Both non- and transgenic tetraploid plants were produced by treatment of leaf explants with colchicine at 25 mg/liter, and polyploidy was confirmed by flow cytometry. Three of the seven diploid transgenics were significantly more resistant to Erwinia amylovora than the non-transgenic Royal Gala' control. Also, in one instance, a tetraploid transgenic was significantly more resistant than the diploid shoot from which it was derived.