Open AccessTransgenic Tobacco Expressing Zephyranthes candida Agglutinin Showing Enhanced Resistance to Aphids
Author(s) -
Pang Y.,
Shen G.,
Qi H.,
Tan F.,
Sun X.,
Tang K.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.200420015
Subject(s) - biology , myzus persicae , aphid , transformation (genetics) , agglutinin , genetically modified crops , transgene , botany , agrobacterium tumefaciens , nicotiana tabacum , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , lectin
Aphid is one of the most serious, sap‐sucking insect pests which cause significant losses of crop yields. The aim of this study is to investigate whether transgenic plants expressing Zephyranthes candida agglutinin (ZCA) could confer enhanced resistance to aphids. Tobacco was transformed with a plasmid, pCAMBIAZCA, containing the marker genes npt II and gusA and the Zephyranthes candida agglutinin gene ( zca ) via Agrobacterium tumefaciens ‐mediated transformation. Twenty‐six independent transgenic plants were regenerated. Western blot analysis revealed ZCA expression at various levels in transgenic plants. Insect bioassay tests showed that transgenic plants expressing a high level of ZCA significantly inhibited the growth of the population of peach potato aphids ( Myzus persicae Sulzer). This is the first report in which transgenic plants expressing ZCA conferred enhanced resistance to aphids. Our study suggests the zca gene could be a useful candidate for genetic engineering strategies in plants to provide aphid resistance.