084 Response of Transgenic `Royal Gala' Apple (Malus ×domestica Borkh.) Shoots, Containing the Modified Cecropin MB39 Gene, to Erwinia amylovora
in HortScienceTransgenic `Royal Gala' apple (Malus × 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-amylase joined to the modified cecropin MB39 coding sequence. Shoots were 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·L-1, and polyploidy was confirmed by flow cytometry. Of the diploid transgenics, three of seven 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.
