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Development of transgenic sweet potato with multiple virus resistance in South Africa (SA)

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Abstract

Multiple infections of Sweet potato feathery mottle virus (SPFMV), Sweet potato chlorotic stunt virus (SPCSV), Sweet potato virus G (SPVG) and Sweet potato mild mottle virus (SPMMV) cause a devastating synergistic disease complex of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas Lam.) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In order to address the problem of multiple virus infections and synergism, this study aimed to develop transgenic sweet potato (cv. Blesbok) plants with broad virus resistance. Coat protein gene segments of SPFMV, SPCSV, SPVG and SPMMV were used to induce gene silencing in transgenic sweet potato. Transformation of apical tips of sweet potato cv. Blesbok was achieved by using Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 harboring the expression cassette. Polymerase chain reaction and Southern blot analyses showed integration of the transgenes occurred in six of the 24 putative transgenic plants and that all plants seemed to correspond to the same transformation event. The six transgenic plants were challenged by graft inoculation with SPFMV, SPCSV, SPVG and SPMMV-infected Ipomoea setosa Ker. Although virus presence was detected using nitrocellulose enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, all transgenic plants displayed delayed and milder symptoms of chlorosis and mottling of lower leaves when compared to the untransformed control plants. These results warrant further investigation on resistance to virus infection under field conditions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dennis Gonsalves from US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, for providing the plant expression silencing (pEPJ86-m/2N) and transformation (pGA482G) vectors and Dr. P. Shanahan from the University of KwaZulu-Natal for providing the sweet potato cultivar ‘Blesbok’. BJS was sponsored by the National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa for the entire duration of her studies for which she is eternally grateful.

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  1. Department of Plant Pathology, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg, 3209, South Africa

    B. J. Sivparsad & A. Gubba

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  1. B. J. Sivparsad
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Correspondence to B. J. Sivparsad.

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Sivparsad, B.J., Gubba, A. Development of transgenic sweet potato with multiple virus resistance in South Africa (SA). Transgenic Res 23, 377–388 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-013-9759-7

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