TITLE:
Expression of Fusion Lytic Peptides Promotes Fungal Disease Resistance in Transgenic Plants
AUTHORS:
George S. Biliarski, Bakhyt Yertaeva, Amitava Mitra
KEYWORDS:
Antimicrobial Peptides, Antibiotic Resistance, Fungal Diseases, Plant Disease Control, Transgenic Plants
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Plant Sciences,
Vol.11 No.2,
February
18,
2020
ABSTRACT: Many organisms produce small proteins which exhibit
antimicrobial activities. In recent decades, the biological role of
antimicrobial peptides (AMP) has been recognized as the main factor in the
defense mechanisms against a broad range of pathogenic microbes. The increased
worldwide incidence of microbial resistance to antibiotics makes AMPs promising alternative for
the control of microbial disease. Exploring the potential of AMPs in transgenic
crops could lead to the development of new and improved cultivars which are
resistant to various economically important diseases. In the present study, two
fusion lytic peptide gene constructs coding for antimicrobial peptides were
expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana tobacco plants and tested against
three fungal pathogens, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizoctonia solani, and Pythium sp. Detached-leaf
bioassay was employed for the transgenic plants carrying the fusion lytic
peptide constructs (ORF13 and RSA1), transgenic vector only control plants
(1234), and wild-type control plants (WT) against the three fungal pathogens.
Symptom area of each leaf was measured with high accuracy and data were recorded and processed by statistical analyses. The results showed that
transgenic plant lines ORF13 and RSL1 have substantial resistance to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum infection, producing significantly smaller lesion areas compared to vector only plant line 1234 and wild
type plants. These transgenic lines also provided resistance against Rhizoctonia
solani, however, these lines were not effective against the other
fungal pathogen Pythium sp.