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Transgenic apple plants overexpressing the Lc gene of maize show an altered growth habit and increased resistance to apple scab and fire blight

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Abstract

Transgenic apple plants (Malus × domestica cv. ‘Holsteiner Cox’) overexpressing the Leaf Colour (Lc) gene from maize (Zea mays) exhibit strongly increased production of anthocyanins and flavan-3-ols (catechins, proanthocyanidins). Greenhouse plants investigated in this study exhibit altered phenotypes with regard to growth habit and resistance traits. Lc-transgenic plants show reduced size, transversal gravitropism of lateral shoots, reduced trichome development, and frequently reduced shoot diameter and abnormal leaf development with fused leaves. Such phenotypes seem to be in accordance with a direct or an indirect effect on polar-auxin-transport in the transgenic plants. Furthermore, leaves often develop necrotic lesions resembling hypersensitive response lesions. In tests, higher resistance against fire blight (caused by the bacterium Erwinia amylovora) and against scab (caused by the fungus Venturia inaequalis) is observed. These phenotypes are discussed with respect to the underlying altered physiology of the Lc-transgenic plants. The results are expected to be considered in apple breeding strategies.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support for several parts of this study by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Germany. The authors thank Ramon Tórres-Ruiz (TU Munich, Germany) for discussion of auxin effects and Eva Facher (University of Munich, Germany) for the scanning raster electron microscopy. Furthermore, we are grateful to Ines Hiller, Katrin Winkler, Ines Polster, Uta Hille, Simone Schöber and Gisela Schulz for their technical assistance. Parts of this work were done in the frame of the European COST-action 864.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Breeding Research on Horticultural and Fruit Crops, Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Pillnitzer Platz 3a, 01326, Dresden, Germany

    Henryk Flachowsky, Andreas Peil, Monika Höfer & Magda-Viola Hanke

  2. Department of Plant Pathology, Institute of Integrative Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Iris Szankowski

  3. Plant Biochemistry and Physiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany

    Thilo C. Fischer

  4. Institute for Resistance Research and Stress Tolerance, Julius Kühn-Institut, Federal Research Centre for Cultivated Plants, Quedlinburg, Germany

    Klaus Richter

  5. Faculty of Chemistry and Physics, Institute for Biosciences, Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany

    Claudia Dörschel

  6. Institute of Botany, Leibnitz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany

    Sylvia Schmoock & Achim E. Gau

  7. Institute of Chemical Engineering, Technical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Heidrun Halbwirth

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  1. Henryk Flachowsky
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  11. Magda-Viola Hanke
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Correspondence to Magda-Viola Hanke.

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Flachowsky, H., Szankowski, I., Fischer, T.C. et al. Transgenic apple plants overexpressing the Lc gene of maize show an altered growth habit and increased resistance to apple scab and fire blight. Planta 231, 623–635 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-009-1074-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-009-1074-4

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