Authors

S. X. Jin; X. L. Zhang;H. Daniell

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Plant Biotechnol. J.

Keywords

Broad spectrum biotic stress tolerance; chloroplast transformation; antimicrobial; insect resistance; HUMAN-IMMUNODEFICIENCY-VIRUS; SATIVUM LEAF LECTIN; TRANSGENIC TOBACCO; PLANTS; MANNOSE-BINDING LECTIN; SNOWDROP LECTIN; ENHANCED RESISTANCE; MOLECULAR-CLONING; BEMISIA-TABACI; INSECTICIDAL PROTEIN; GENE GNA; Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Plant Sciences

Abstract

Broad spectrum protection against different insects and pathogens requires multigene engineering. However, such broad spectrum protection against biotic stress is provided by a single protein in some medicinal plants. Therefore, tobacco chloroplasts were transformed with the agglutinin gene from Pinellia ternata (pta), a widely cultivated Chinese medicinal herb. Pinellia ternata agglutinin (PTA) was expressed up to 9.2% of total soluble protein in mature leaves. Purified PTA showed similar hemagglutination activity as snowdrop lectin. Artificial diet with purified PTA from transplastomic plants showed marked and broad insecticidal activity. In planta bioassays conducted with T0 or T1 generation PTA lines showed that the growth of aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) was reduced by 89%92% when compared with untransformed (UT) plants. Similarly, the larval survival and total population of whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) on transplastomic lines were reduced by 91%93% when compared with UT plants. This is indeed the first report of lectin controlling whitefly infestation. When transplastomic PTA leaves were fed to corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea), tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens) or the beet armyworm (spodoptera exigua), 100% mortality was observed against all these three insects. In planta bioassays revealed Erwinia population to be 10 000-fold higher in control than in PTA lines. Similar results were observed with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) challenge. Therefore, broad spectrum resistance to homopteran (sap-sucking), Lepidopteran insects as well as anti-bacterial or anti-viral activity observed in PTA lines provides a new option to engineer protection against biotic stress by hyper-expression of an unique protein that is naturally present in a medicinal plant.

Journal Title

Plant Biotechnology Journal

Volume

10

Issue/Number

3

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

313

Last Page

327

WOS Identifier

WOS:000301049100005

ISSN

1467-7644

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