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- Author or Editor: Freddi Hammerschlag x
Factors influencing regeneration and ß-glucuronidase expression from apple (Malus × domestica Borkh.) stem internodes were studied as part of a program to develop transgenic `Royal Gala' apple with improved disease resistance. The early stages of the transformation process were monitored by counting the number of ß-glucuronidase (GUS) expressing zones immediately after co-cultivation of explants with Agrobacterium tumefaciens supervirulent strain EHA105 (p35SGUS_INT) and by counting the number of GUS-expressing calli developing on explants 2 weeks after co-cultivation. Etiolated shoots were produced from in vitro shoots cultured for 2 weeks in the light followed by 2 weeks in the dark and were compared with shoots cultured for 4 weeks in the light (green shoots). First internodes from etiolated shoots produced three, 10 and 100 times the number of shoots regenerated from second, third, and fourth internodal explants, respectively, and produced seven times the number of shoots compared with similar explants from green shoots. 100% of first internodes from etiolated shoots exhibited GUS-expressing zones and yielded twice as many GUS-expressing zones when compared with leaf explants from green shoots, which exhibited GUS-expressing zones in only 60% of the explants. An average of nine GUS-expressing calli per explant were produced on first internodes from etiolated shoots 2 weeks after co-cultivation.
Pathogenic bacteria, such as Xanthomonas campestris pv. pruni, cause diseases of significant economical implications in the Prunus genus. Cecropins are naturally occurring bactericidal peptides found in the hemolymph of insects. Cecropins cause channel formation in membranes and lysis of bacterial cells. We are interested in engineering the gene for cecropin into peach (Prunus persica) and other fruit tree species. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of cecropin B on viability, using fluorescein diacetate staining, and on changes in transmembrane electrical potential (PD) using the fluorescing probe merocyanine-540. Protoplasts were isolated from shoot-tip cultures in a CPW13M (salts + 0.71M mannitol) solution containing 2% cellulase and 0.5% macerase, while cells were isolated in CPW15.4S (salts + 0.45M sucrose) containing 0.5% cellulase and 0.5% macerase. Cecropin B (1μM) had no effect on viability and changes in PD, while 10μM had a slight effect, and 100μM cecropin B caused significant depolarization and lysis of peach protoplasts. No effect on viability and change in PD were observed in cells when treated with 1-100μM cecropin B. These results suggest that cells and protoplasts of peach can resist cecropin B in the concentration range that causes lysis of plant pathogenic bacteria. The implication of using cecropin to increase microbial disease resistance will be discussed.
Immature `Redhaven' peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] embryos were infected with a shooty mutant strain of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, tms328::Tn5, which carries an octopine-type Ti plasmid with a functional cytokinin gene and a mutated auxin gene. Shoots were regenerated from embryo-derived callus that was initiated on MS medium lacking phytohormones. Shoots exhibited increased frequency of branching and were more difficult to root than the noninfected. Transcripts of the tms328::Tn5-cytokinin gene were detected using northern analyses of total plant RNA. Polymerase chain reaction of genomic DNA and cDNA resulted in amplification of DNA fragments specific for the cytokinin gene, as determined by restriction enzyme and Southern analyses. The concentrations of the cytokinins zeatin and zeatin riboside in the leaves of regenerated plants were on the average 51-fold higher than in leaves taken from nontransformed plants. None of the shoots or callus tissues were postive for octopine. The expression of the T-DNA encoded cytokinin gene promotes growth of peach cells in the absence of phytohormones, thus serving as a marker for transformation. In addition, this gene appears to promote morphogenesis without an auxin inductive step.
As part of a program to improve highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) cultivars via tissue culture and genetic engineering, studies were conducted to determine optimum conditions for organogenesis from leaf explants of the previously recalcitrant cv. Bluecrop. The effects of a pretreatment, growth regulators, and age of explant source on shoot organogenesis were investigated. A maximum of 98% explants regenerated shoots with a mean of 11 shoots per leaf explant after 62 days when explants of 2-week-old shoot cultures were incubated on the following regime: pretreatment medium #1 containing 5 μm TDZ and 2.6 μm NAA for 4 days, pretreatment medium #2 containing 7 μm zeatin riboside and 2.6 μm NAA for 3 days, regeneration medium containing 1 μm TDZ for 6 weeks, and last on medium without growth regulators for 10 days. No shoot regeneration occurred if explants were incubated without exposure to pretreatment prior to incubation on regeneration medium. There were no significant differences in percentage of regeneration or the number of shoots regenerating per explant from leaf explants derived from either 1-, 2-, or 3-week-old shoot cultures. Shoot production per explant on regeneration medium containing 1 μm TDZ was about three times that on 0.5 μm TDZ or 20 μm zeatin riboside, and nine times that on 5 μm TDZ. Chemical names used: 1-phenyl-3-(1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-yl)urea (thidiazuron, TDZ); 9-(β-D-ribofuranosyl)-6-(4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enylamino)purine (zeatin riboside).
As part of our program to develop transgenic peach cultivars with improved disease resistance, we showed that grafting of in vitro cultured `Suncrest' peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] tips `onto decapitated stems of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) infected `Suncrest' shoot cultures, resulted in consistent transfer of virus across grafts as demonstrated by RNA hybridization analysis, suggesting that such a system could be useful for measuring resistance to PNRSV in peach shoot cultures. We have extended these studies to include grafts of `Springcrest' and `Nemaguard' test tips onto `Suncrest' stocks. RNA hybridization analysis showed that PNRSV persists in shoot cultures for 18 months after initiation from PNRSV-infected `Suncrest' trees and after 16 weeks of treatment of 4°C in the dark, suggesting that a supply of infected shoot cultures could be maintained for repeated use. Graft success rates for grafts of `Springcrest' onto `Suncrest' and `Nemaguard' onto `Suncrest', equaled or exceeded success rates for `Suncrest' onto `Suncrest'. Virus was transmitted from infected stocks into `Suncrest', `Springcrest', and `Nemaguard' test tips by 2 weeks in most successful micrografts. There was no significant difference in the virus concentrations among the three scions at 2, 4, and 6 weeks after grafting, suggesting that there is equal efficacy of virus transfer through grafts from `Suncrest' to the three cultivars, and that no differences in resistance to PNRSV exist among these cultivars.
Peach tree short life (PTSL) is a serious peach tree disease syndrome on replant orchard sites in the Southeast. Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae is a bacterial disease often associated with tree injury and death on these PTSL sites. Rootstocks that have better tolerance to ring nematodes such as Lovell have less PTSL death. Tissue-cultured peach embryos and/or explants have shown increased resistance to Pseudomonas syringae and Xanthomonas campestris pv. pruni, another bacterial peach pathogen, in laboratory and greenhouse screenings. Tissue-cultured `Redhaven' (RH), `Redskin' (RS), and `Sunhigh' (SH) peach cultivars on their own roots were planted with SH seedlings and RH and RS budded to Lovell rootstock on a severe PTSL site in South Carolina. Treatments beside cultivar/rootstock combination included preplant fumigation vs. nonfumigation. PTSL appeared in the third year and by year 4 significant tree death occurred. Tissue-cultured RH, RS, and SH trees had 54%, 55%, and 88% PTSL death, respectively, compared to RH (17%) and RS (29%) on Lovell or the SH seedlings (25%). Fumigation significantly decreased PTSL in both RS combinations but not RH. These data suggest that the tolerance of the cultivar root system to PTSL-inducing factors such as ring nematodes was more important in PTSL than scion resistance to bacteria.
One approach for obtaining useful genetic variation is to select for somaclonal variants generated by tissue culture techniques. Increased levels of resistance to bacterial leaf spot (Xanthomonas campestris pv. pruni) have been observed in toxin-selected and unselected peach regenerants in vitro, in the greenhouse and under field conditions. Peach regenerants have also demonstrated increased levels of bacterial canker (Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae) and root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne incognita) resistance. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers have been used to study genetic variation at the DNA level among the somaclonal variants. Sixty RAPD primers (10-mers) were screened and 10 proved useful as markers to detect polymorphisms, thus establishing a genetic basis for somaclonal variation. These studies demonstrate the feasibility of using tissue culture techniques to generate fruit trees with increased levels of disease resistance.
Studies examining exposure methods and callus type were conducted to develop an in vitro selection system using roridin E as a selection agent. Vacuum infiltration of callus with the toxin solution was the only successful selection method at the concentrations tested. Primary callus (callus originating directly from the explant) was not sensitive to roridin A or E at the concentrations used. Secondary callus (callus produced from primary callus) exhibited a differential response to roridins A and E similar to that of detached-leaf assays. Electrolyte leakage studies of callus were not conclusive in establishing the membrane as the site of toxin action or useful for screening tolerance in vitro. A small percentage of callus from tolerant and susceptible cultivars survived repeated exposure to roridin E at 50 μg·ml-1.
A range of antibiotics and short-term exposure to an acidified (pH 3.0) medium were evaluated for their effects on eliminating Agrobacterium tumefaciens, supervirulent strain EHA101 (pEHA101/pGT100), from leaf explants of `Royal Gala' apple (Malus ×domestica Borkh.) and on shoot regeneration. Exposure of leaf explants to regeneration and elongation media containing 100 μg·mL-1 concentrations of the antibiotics carbenicillin (crb), cefotaxime (cef), and cefoxitin [=mefoxin (mef)], singly or in combination for 52 days did not eliminate A. tumefaciens from the explants. The percentage of regeneration on crb, cef, and mef was 97%, 11%, and 50%, respectively, compared to 67% for the controls. Short-term (1- to 18-hour) vacuum infiltration with 500 μg·mL-1 of any of the above antibiotics did not inhibit regeneration and failed to eliminate A. tumefaciens from leaf explants. Cef (2000 μg·mL-1) did not inhibit the percentage of regeneration and was more effective than crb or mef in preventing growth of A. tumefaciens when vacuum infiltrated into apple leaf explants for 30 minutes. Further experiments demonstrated that the incidence of A. tumefaciens contamination could be reduced to 28% without negatively impacting shoot regeneration by using a 1-hour vacuum infiltration with an acidified medium, an 18-hour vacuum infiltration with cef (5000 μg·mL-1), and a 52-day incubation on regeneration and elongation media containing 100 μg·mL-1 each of mef and crb. Kan resistant, GUS (β-glucuronidase) positive, putative transformants without A. tumefaciens were generated by adding kan (10 μg·mL-1) to the regeneration and elongation media.