Engineering fire blight resistance into the apple cultivar 'Gala' using the FB_MR5 CC‐NBS‐LRR resistance gene of Malus × robusta 5. Issue 6 (12th March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Broggini, Giovanni A. L.; Wöhner, Thomas; Fahrentrapp, Johannes; Kost, Thomas D.; Flachowsky, Henryk; Peil, Andreas; Hanke, Maria‐Viola; Richter, Klaus; Patocchi, Andrea; Gessler, Cesare
• Is Part Of: Plant biotechnology journal. Volume 12:Issue 6(2014:Aug.)
• Page Start: 728
• Page End: 733
• Publication Date: 2014-03-12
• Subjects: Plant biotechnology -- Periodicals; Plant genetic engineering -- Periodicals; 630.272
• DOI: 10.1111/pbi.12177
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1467-7644

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="pbi12177-abs-0001"> <title>Summary</title> <p>The fire blight susceptible apple cultivar <italic>Malus</italic> × <italic>domestica</italic> Borkh. cv. 'Gala' was transformed with the candidate fire blight resistance gene <italic>FB_MR5</italic> originating from the crab apple accession <italic>Malus</italic> ×<italic> robusta</italic> 5 (Mr5). A total of five different transgenic lines were obtained. All transgenic lines were shown to be stably transformed and originate from different transgenic events. The transgenic lines express the <italic>FB_MR5</italic> either driven by the constitutive CaMV 35S promoter and the ocs terminator or by its native promoter and terminator sequences. Phenotyping experiments were performed with Mr5‐virulent and Mr5‐avirulent strains of <italic>Erwinia amylovora</italic>, the causal agent of fire blight. Significantly less disease symptoms were detected on transgenic lines after inoculation with two different Mr5‐avirulent <italic>E. amylovora</italic> strains, while significantly more shoot necrosis was observed after inoculation with the Mr5‐virulent mutant strain ZYRKD3_1. The results of these experiments demonstrated the ability of a single gene isolated from the native gene pool of apple to protect a susceptible cultivar from fire blight. Furthermore, this gene is confirmed to be the resistance determinant of Mr5 as the transformed lines undergo the same gene‐for‐gene interaction in the host–pathogen relationship Mr5–<italic>E. amylovora</italic>.</p> </abstract>