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Transgenic Tea Over-expressing Solanum tuberosum Endo-1,3-beta-d-glucanase Gene Conferred Resistance Against Blister Blight Disease

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Abstract

Tea (Camellia sinensis [L.] O. Kuntze) plant, one of the most important plantation crops in the world, is infected by a fungus called Exobasidium vexans leading to dreaded blister blight disease. The disease may result in crop losses up to 35% which directly affect the tea industry. Solanum tuberosum endo-1,3-beta-d-glucanase was cloned into tea genome via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The transformation event initially gave 32 kanamycin-resistant plantlets, out of which PCR analysis confirmed only 10 plantlets about the integration of transgene in the plant genome. Real-time PCR study detected transgene expression in six transgenic plantlets. Upregulation of endogenous C. sinensis pathogenesis-related (PR) genes like PR3 (chitinase I) gene and PR5 (thaumatin-like protein) gene also occurred in transgenic plantlets. Detached leaf infection assay showed resistance to E. vexans in greenhouse-acclimated transgenic plantlets. An inhibitory activity against E. vexans was noticed on the detached leaves of transgenic plantlets compared to control. Transgenic plantlets showed resistance to inoculated fungal pathogen by the formation of hypersensitivity reaction area unlike the formation of fungal lesion on control plantlet. Thus, it can be inferred that constitutive expression of the potato endo-1,3-beta-d-glucanase gene can be a strategy to produce blister blight-resistant tea.

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Acknowledgements

HRS was a senior research fellow supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Govt. of India. The authors also acknowledge the support of the director, Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam, India.

Funding

This study was supported by generous funding from Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India.

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  1. H. Ranjit Singh

    Present address: Cotton University, Guwahati, Assam, India

  2. Sudripta Das

    Present address: Institute of Bioresources and Sustainable Development, Imphal, Manipur, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biotechnology Department, Tocklai Tea Research Institute, Jorhat, Assam, India

    H. Ranjit Singh, Pranita Hazarika, Niraj Agarwala, Neelakshi Bhattacharyya, Prasenjit Bhagawati, Bornali Gohain, Tirthankar Bandyopadhyay, Raju Bharalee, Sushmita Gupta & Sudripta Das

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam, India

    Manab Deka

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Contributions

S Das and HR Singh planned the research objective. HR Singh was awarded senior research fellowship by CSIR (Govt. of India) to take up the research work. HR Singh performed the experiments and wrote the manuscript. P Hazarika helped with tissue culture and genomic DNA isolation. N Agarwala helped in the preparation of plant transformation vector. B Gohain helped in doing real-time PCR experiments. N Bhattacharyya, P Bhagawati, T Bandyopadhyay, R Bharalee, S Gupta, and M Deka helped during literature survey and planning of experiments.

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Correspondence to H. Ranjit Singh.

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Singh, H.R., Hazarika, P., Agarwala, N. et al. Transgenic Tea Over-expressing Solanum tuberosum Endo-1,3-beta-d-glucanase Gene Conferred Resistance Against Blister Blight Disease. Plant Mol Biol Rep 36, 107–122 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-017-1063-x

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