Abstract
The fungal pathogen Mycosphaerella fijiensis, causal agent of black leaf streak disease of bananas and plantains, was transformed with a green fluorescent protein-carrying construct by using a restriction enzyme-mediated integration methodology. A quantitative polymerase chain reaction was adapted to estimate transgene copy number and pathogenicity assays with three banana genotypes with dissimilar reactions to M. fijiensis infection were performed to characterize the transformants. Transgene insertion varied from one to five copies per genome among four random selected transformants. All M. fijiensis strains produced typical symptoms of the black leaf streak disease on the three banana genotypes assayed. Interestingly, the GFP-18 transformant showed increased aggressiveness on susceptible ‘Grande naine’ and resistant ‘Yangambi km5’ plants demonstrating that mutation events in M. fijiensis can increase virulence.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank the support of the Institutional University Cooperation Programme with Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas, funded by the Flemish Interuniversity Council, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research through the project ‘Molecular analysis of the black Sigatoka disease of banana’ (CUB 028-00) and by the International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantain (currently Bioversity International) through the project ‘Molecular analysis of Mycosphaerella fijiensis-banana interactions’ (LOA 2003-04). Orelvis Portal was granted with a VLIR-UOS short research stay scholarship.
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Portal, O., Acosta-Suárez, M., Ocaña, B. et al. A green fluorescent protein-transformed Mycosphaerella fijiensis strain shows increased aggressiveness on banana. Australasian Plant Pathol. 41, 645–647 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13313-012-0155-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13313-012-0155-1