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Improved watermelon quality using bottle gourd rootstock expressing a Ca2+/H+ antiporter

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Abstract

Bottle gourd (Lagenaria siceraria Standl.) has been commonly used as a source of rootstock for watermelon. To improve its performance as a rootstock without adverse effects on the scion, the bottle gourd was genetically engineered using a modified Arabidopsis Ca2+/H+ exchanger sCAX2B. This transporter provides enhanced Ca2+ substrate specificity and decreased Mn2+ transport capability. Our previous work demonstrated that sCAX2B bottle gourds were more robust and nutrient dense than controls. Here, several cucurbit crops were test-grafted onto the transgenic bottle gourd to determine its effect on the scions. The grafted watermelons and melons onto the transgenic rootstocks appeared to show more robust growth than the controls 35 days after greenhouse transplanting. Watermelon fruits with the watermelon/transgenic bottle gourd (scion/rootstock) combination demonstrated higher osmotic pressure and more soluble solids than controls. These results suggest that sCAX2B expression in the bottle gourd rootstock facilitates improved watermelon quality through the translocation of nutrients and/or water toward enhancing the biomass of scion.

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Abbreviations

CAX:

Cation exchanger

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by the Cooperative Research Project (Agenda 2-8-14) between the NIHHS of RDA of Republic of Korea and the KSU of USA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecological Environment Conservation, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, 742-711, Republic of Korea

    Jeung-Sul Han

  2. Department of Horticulture, Forestry & Recreation Resources (HFRR) 2021 Throckmorton Plant Science Center, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Sunghun Park

  3. Baylor College of Medicine, Departments of Pediatrics, and Human and Molecular Genetics, USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center, 1100 Bates St., Houston, TX, 77030, USA

    Toshiro Shigaki & Kendal D. Hirschi

  4. Department of Environmental Horticulture, Kyungpook National University, Sangju, 742-711, Republic of Korea

    Chang Kil Kim

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  1. Jeung-Sul Han
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  2. Sunghun Park
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  4. Kendal D. Hirschi
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Correspondence to Chang Kil Kim.

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Han, JS., Park, S., Shigaki, T. et al. Improved watermelon quality using bottle gourd rootstock expressing a Ca2+/H+ antiporter. Mol Breeding 24, 201–211 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-009-9284-9

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