Poster: Late and Moved Abstracts

Abs # 1424: Transgenic tomato plants expressing Arabidopsis NPR1 gene confer enhanced resistance to a broad-spectrum of diseases

Presenter:	Cheng, Chiu-Ping , chiuping@gate.sinica.edu.tw
Authors	Cheng, Chiu-Ping  (A)   Lin, Wan-Chi  (A)   Lu, Ching-Fang  (A)   Wu, Jia-Wei  (A)   Cheng, Ming-Lung  (A)   Black, Lowell  (B)   Green, Sylvia K.  (B)   Wang,  Jaw-Fen  (B)
Affiliations:	(A): Inst. of BioAgricultural Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan (B): Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, Shanhua, Tainan, Taiwan

The Arabidopsis NPR1 (nonexpresser of PR genes) gene was previously reported to confer a broader spectrum of enhanced disease-resistance in transgenic Arabidopsis and rice. To genetically engineer a broader spectrum of enhanced disease-resistance/tolerance in tomato plant, NPR1 was introduced into a specific tomato line bred locally in Taiwan. The transgenic lines are normal regarding the overall morphology and various horticultural traits. Results from Southern, northern, western blot analysis confirmed the presence and the expression of the transgene in the transgenic plants. Constitutive induction of the expression of some marker genes for plant defense was also demonstrated in the transgenic plants. A further enhancement of the expression of the transgene and the defense marker genes was observed upon the treatment of salicylic acid. Results of disease screens of the R1 and R2 transgenic lines revealed that the transgenic lines conferred various levels of enhanced resistance to a few diseases. Particularly, significant enhancement of resistance to bacterial wilt and Fusarium wilt, both are vascular diseases, was observed in most of these transgenic lines. The expression level of the transgene in the transgenic lines was in general consistent with that of several PR genes. However, the levels of NPR1 and PR gene expression were not correlated with the spectrum and levels of enhanced resistance of the transgenic lines.