Abstract
Sugarcane being the major contributor of sugar and potential source of biofuel around the globe, occupies significant commercial importance. Red rot is the most devastating disease of sugarcane, severely affecting its quality as well as yield. Here we report the overexpression of SUGARWIN1 and SUGARWIN2 genes in any field crop for the first time. For this purpose, SUGAWIN1 and SUGARWIN2 were cloned downstream of maize ubiquitin (Ubi-1) promoter to construct two independent expression cassettes. The bar gene conferring resistance against phosphinothricin was used as selectable marker. Embryogenic calli of sugarcane were bombarded with both expression cassettes and selected on regeneration medium supplemented with phosphinothricin. The phosphinothricin-resistant shoots were rooted and then, analyzed using molecular tools at the genomic as well as transcriptomic levels. The transcriptomic analysis, using real time qPCR, showed that expression of SUGARWIN1 (SWO) and SUGARWIN2 (SWT) was higher in transgenic plants as compared to untransformed plants. Our results further demonstrated that over expression of these genes under maize ubiquitin (Ubi-1) promoter causes significant restriction in proliferation of red rot causal agent, Colletotrichum falcatum in sugarcane transgenic plants, under in vitro conditions. This report may open up exciting possibilities to extend this technology to other monocots for the development of crops with better ability to withstand fungal pathogens.
Highlights
Fungal diseases bring about substantial yield losses in sugarcane crop
SUGARWIN1 and SUGARWIN2 proteins are involved in helping out plants to withstand biotic stress conditions
Keeping in view the role of SUGARWIN proteins in red rot resistance, we proposed that over-expression of these genes may enable crop plants to perform better in the field under disease conditions
Summary
Fungal diseases bring about substantial yield losses in sugarcane crop. More than 160 fungal pathogens are known to harm sugarcane, while seven diseases with new etiology have been renowned and reported [1]. Red rot is one of the ancient diseases of sugarcane in several countries, including the United States, Thailand, Taiwan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan [4,5]. Cane stalk may be infected by red rot at both initial as well as mature stages of growth. Some common symptoms include discoloration, in addition to pathogen produced invertases, which hydrolyze the sucrose into fructose and glucose and cause dryness of the cane stalk. Red rot disease can be eradicated by adopting various methods of disease management, including tissue culture, breeding, biological, and chemical control. While somaclonal variations are linked with the selection of fungus-resistant cells [8,9], disease resistant
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