Banana (Musa spp.) is a staple food for more than 400 million people. Over 40% of world production and virtually all the export trade is based on Cavendish banana. However, Cavendish banana is under threat from a virulent fungus, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense tropical race 4 (TR4) for which no acceptable resistant replacement has been identified. Here we report the identification of transgenic Cavendish with resistance to TR4. In our 3-year field trial, two lines of transgenic Cavendish, one transformed with RGA2, a gene isolated from a TR4-resistant diploid banana, and the other with a nematode-derived gene, Ced9, remain disease free. Transgene expression in the RGA2 lines is strongly correlated with resistance. Endogenous RGA2 homologs are also present in Cavendish but are expressed tenfold lower than that in our most resistant transgenic line. The expression of these homologs can potentially be elevated through gene editing, to provide non-transgenic resistance.
SummaryVitamin A deficiency remains one of the world's major public health problems despite food fortification and supplements strategies. Biofortification of staple crops with enhanced levels of pro‐vitamin A (PVA) offers a sustainable alternative strategy to both food fortification and supplementation. As a proof of concept, PVA‐biofortified transgenic Cavendish bananas were generated and field trialed in Australia with the aim of achieving a target level of 20 μg/g of dry weight (dw) β‐carotene equivalent (β‐CE) in the fruit. Expression of a Fe'i banana‐derived phytoene synthase 2a (MtPsy2a) gene resulted in the generation of lines with PVA levels exceeding the target level with one line reaching 55 μg/g dw β‐CE
. Expression of the maize phytoene synthase 1 (ZmPsy1) gene, used to develop ‘Golden Rice 2’, also resulted in increased fruit PVA levels although many lines displayed undesirable phenotypes. Constitutive expression of either transgene with the maize polyubiquitin promoter increased PVA accumulation from the earliest stage of fruit development. In contrast, PVA accumulation was restricted to the late stages of fruit development when either the banana 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐carboxylate oxidase or the expansin 1 promoters were used to drive the same transgenes. Wild‐type plants with the longest fruit development time had also the highest fruit PVA concentrations. The results from this study suggest that early activation of the rate‐limiting enzyme in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway and extended fruit maturation time are essential factors to achieve optimal PVA concentrations in banana fruit.
SummaryFusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc), is one of the most devastating diseases of banana (Musa spp.). Apart from resistant cultivars, there are no effective control measures for the disease. We investigated whether the transgenic expression of apoptosis-inhibition-related genes in banana could be used to confer disease resistance. Embryogenic cell suspensions of the banana cultivar, 'Lady Finger', were stably transformed with animal genes that negatively regulate apoptosis, namely Bcl-xL, Ced-9 and Bcl-2 3¢ UTR, and independently transformed plant lines were regenerated for testing. Following a 12-week exposure to Foc race 1 in small-plant glasshouse bioassays, seven transgenic lines (2 · Bcl-xL, 3 · Ced-9 and 2 · Bcl-2 3¢ UTR) showed significantly less internal and external disease symptoms than the wild-type susceptible 'Lady Finger' banana plants used as positive controls. Of these, one Bcl-2 3¢ UTR line showed resistance that was equivalent to that of wild-type Cavendish bananas that were included as resistant negative controls. Further, the resistance of this line continued for 23-week postinoculation at which time the experiment was terminated. Using TUNEL assays, Foc race 1 was shown to induce apoptosis-like features in the roots of wild-type 'Lady Finger' plants consistent with a necrotrophic phase in the life cycle of this pathogen. This was further supported by the observed reduction in these effects in the roots of the resistant Bcl-2 3¢ UTR-transgenic line. This is the first report on the generation of transgenic banana plants with resistance to Fusarium wilt.
Immature embryo-derived calli of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cv Veery5 were transformed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 carrying either binary vector pHK22 or superbinary vector pHK21, the latter carrying an extra set of vir genes--vir B, -C and -G. In both cases, transient beta-glucuronidase ( GUS) expression ranging from 35-63% was observed 3 days after co-cultivation, but 587 calli infected with pHK22/LBA4404 failed to produce a single stably transformed plant, whereas 658 calli infected with pHK21/LBA4404 gave rise to 17 transformants carrying both the GUS and bar genes. Regeneration media supplemented with 0.1 M spermidine improved the recovery of transformants from pHK21/LBA4404-infected calli from 7% to 24.2%, resulting in an increase in the overall transformation frequency from 1.2% to 3.9%. The results suggest that two important factors that could lead to an improvement in transformation frequencies of cereals like wheat are (1) the use of superbinary vectors and (2) modification of the polyamine ratio in the regeneration medium. Stable expression and inheritance of the transgenes was confirmed by both genetic and molecular analyses. T1 progeny showed segregation of the transgenes in a typical Mendelian fashion in most of the plants. Of the transformed plants, 35% showed single-copy insertion of the transgene as shown by both Southern analysis and the segregation ratios.
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