Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of tomato with rolB gene results in enhancement of fruit quality and foliar resistance against fungal pathogens.

Waheed Arshad,Ihsan-Ul- Haq,Bushra Mirza,Mohammad Tahir Waheed,Kirankumar S Mysore,Keqiang Wu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0096979

Waheed Arshad, Ihsan-Ul- Haq + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096979

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: May 9, 2014
Citations: 55	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Quaid-i-Azam University, Noble Research Institute

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the second most important cultivated crop next to potato, worldwide. Tomato serves as an important source of antioxidants in human diet. Alternaria solani and Fusarium oxysporum cause early blight and vascular wilt of tomato, respectively, resulting in severe crop losses. The foremost objective of the present study was to generate transgenic tomato plants with rolB gene and evaluate its effect on plant morphology, nutritional contents, yield and resistance against fungal infection. Tomato cv. Rio Grande was transformed via Agrobacterium tumefaciens harbouring rolB gene of Agrobacterium rhizogenes. rolB. Biochemical analyses showed considerable improvement in nutritional quality of transgenic tomato fruits as indicated by 62% increase in lycopene content, 225% in ascorbic acid content, 58% in total phenolics and 26% in free radical scavenging activity. Furthermore, rolB gene significantly improved the defence response of leaves of transgenic plants against two pathogenic fungal strains A. solani and F. oxysporum. Contrarily, transformed plants exhibited altered morphology and reduced fruit yield. In conclusion, rolB gene from A. rhizogenes can be used to generate transgenic tomato with increased nutritional contents of fruits as well as improved foliar tolerance against fungal pathogens.

Highlights

Tomato is an important cultivated crop that is economically attractive for medium-scale farmers due to its high yield and relatively short duration
Tomato fruit is a rich source of many compounds such as antioxidants, which are important for human health
Since individual rol genes of A. rhizogenes are considered as potential enhancers of secondary metabolism in transformed plant cells and are capable of increasing the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites [4], we were interested to investigate the effect of rolB gene on the production of secondary metabolites

Summary

Introduction

Tomato is an important cultivated crop that is economically attractive for medium-scale farmers due to its high yield and relatively short duration. In 2008, tomato production was about 136.230 million tonnes from an area of 4.837 million hectares with an average yield of 28.16 tonnes/ha [1]. Tomato crop production is affected by a number of biotic factors including viruses, bacteria, fungi and nematodes causing devastating diseases resulting in great economic losses [2]. Blight and Fusarium wilt are two very important and devastating diseases of tomato. Known as Alternaria leaf spots, is a common disease caused by the fungus A. solani, while Fusarium wilt is caused by the soil dwelling fungus F. oxysporum f. Various methodologies have been developed to lower these crop losses by different diseases to ensure the food supply. Development of disease resistant plants could be the most efficient practice with less hazards [3]

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