Abstract
The effect of introduction of the Zephyranthes grandiflora agglutinin gene (zga) to tobacco on its anti-pest ability for peach-potato aphids was investigated. PCR analysis confirmed that the zga gene was integrated into the plant genome. The results from semi-quantitative RT-PCR and real-time PCR assays revealed that the zga gene was expressed at various levels in the transgenic plants. A bioassay with aphids indicated that transgenic plants conferred enhanced resistance to aphids. Compared with the controls, the average number of aphids fed with transgenic plants during a 20-day assay evidently decreased by 70.4% in leaf disc bioassay and 77.9% in whole plant bioassay. The average number of nymph was significantly reduced by 36.4% on zga-expressing plants in leaf disc bioassay and 35.6% in whole plant bioassay. The report indicated that the introduction of zga gene to tobacco plants is a useful method to improve its anti-pest ability for aphids.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by National Transgenic Organism New Variety Culture Key Project (2009ZX08012-002B), Fujian Science and Technology Committee Key Special Project (2008NZ0001-4), Project from Ministry of Science and Technology of China (NC2010AE0075, NC2010AE0372), Shanghai Science and Technology Committee Project (073158202, 10JC1412000, 09QH1401900, 06QA14038, 08391911800, 075405117, 065458022, 05ZR14093), National Natural Science Fund (30900110), Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (09ZZ138), Leading Academic Discipline Project of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (J50401), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Fund (Y2080621) and Project from Shanghai Normal University.
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Communicated by J. Sadowski.
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Zhou, C., Qian, Z., Ji, Q. et al. Expression of the zga agglutinin gene in tobacco can enhance its anti-pest ability for peach-potato aphid (Myzus persica). Acta Physiol Plant 33, 2003–2010 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-011-0715-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-011-0715-y