The Use of Antisense Transgenic Tomato Plants to Study the Role of Ethylene in Responses to Waterlogging

Abstract

Fruit of tomato plants transformed with an antisense construct to the ripening-related cDNA clone, pTOM13, demonstrate a reduced capacity to produce ethylene. Recent work shows that this is because the clone encodes for one form of the ethylene forming enzyme (EFE) (Hamilton et al.,1991). Ethylene is thought to mediate in several developmental effects, such as petiole epinasty and adventitious root formation, when plants are exposed to waterlogged conditions (Jackson, 1985). This hypothesis would be supported if the expected reduced capacity for ethylene production in vegetative tissue of antisense plants was associated with a diminution of the physiological responses to waterlogging. Thus, the pTOM13 antisense transformants may serve as a powerful tool for investigating ethylene action in waterlogged plants. We have studied the extent to which epinasty, ethylene production and the accumulation of ACC and bound (putative malonyl) ACC in waterlogged plants is affected by pTOM13 antisense transformation of the tomato cultivar ‘Ailsa Craig’.