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Improved tolerance toward fungal diseases in transgenic Cavendish banana (Musa spp. AAA group) cv. Grand Nain

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Abstract

The most devastating disease currently threatening to destroy the banana industry worldwide is undoubtedly Sigatoka Leaf spot disease caused by Mycosphaerella fijiensis. In this study, we developed a transformation system for banana and expressed the endochitinase gene ThEn-42 from Trichoderma harzianum together with the grape stilbene synthase (StSy) gene in transgenic banana plants under the control of the 35S promoter and the inducible PR-10 promoter, respectively. The superoxide dismutase gene Cu,Zn-SOD from tomato, under control of the ubiquitin promoter, was added to this cassette to improve scavenging of free radicals generated during fungal attack. A 4-year field trial demonstrated several transgenic banana lines with improved tolerance to Sigatoka. As the genes conferring Sigatoka tolerance may have a wide range of anti-fungal activities we also inoculated the regenerated banana plants with Botrytis cinerea. The best transgenic lines exhibiting Sigatoka tolerance were also found to have tolerance to B. cinerea in laboratory assays.

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Abbreviations

2-4, D:

2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid

2iP:

6(γ,γ-dimethylallyl-amino)purine

BAP:

6-Benzylaminopurine

DTT:

Dithiothreitol

IAA:

Indole acetic acid

IBA:

Indole butyric acid

MS:

Murashige and Skoog (1962)

NAA:

α-Naphthalene acetic acid

SH:

Schenk and Hildebrant (1972)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Fruit Tree Sciences, Institute of Plant Sciences, The Agricultural Research Organization, P.O. Box 6, 50250, Bet-Dagan, Israel

    Jane Vishnevetsky, Moshe Flaishman, Yuval Cohen, Uri Hanania, Nachman Sahar, Oded Dgani & Avihai Perl

  2. Department of Plant Pathology and Weed Research, Institute of Plant Protection, The Agricultural Research Organization, P.O. Box 6, 50250, Bet-Dagan, Israel

    Yigal Elad

  3. Tropical Research and Education Center, University of Florida, IFAS, Homestead, FL, 33031, USA

    Thomas L. White Jr. & Aaron J. Palmateer

  4. Alberta Research Council, P.O. Bag 4000, T9C 1T4, Vegreville, AB, Canada

    Margarita Velcheva

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  1. Jane Vishnevetsky
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  2. Thomas L. White Jr.
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  3. Aaron J. Palmateer
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  4. Moshe Flaishman
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  5. Yuval Cohen
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  6. Yigal Elad
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  7. Margarita Velcheva
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  8. Uri Hanania
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  11. Avihai Perl
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Correspondence to Avihai Perl.

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Vishnevetsky, J., White, T.L., Palmateer, A.J. et al. Improved tolerance toward fungal diseases in transgenic Cavendish banana (Musa spp. AAA group) cv. Grand Nain. Transgenic Res 20, 61–72 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-010-9392-7

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