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. 2021 Jul 7;10(7):1395.
doi: 10.3390/plants10071395.

High Resistance of Potato to Early Blight Is Achieved by Expression of the Pro-SmAMP1 Gene for Hevein-Like Antimicrobial Peptides from Common Chickweed (Stellaria media)

Denis V Beliaev  1 , Natalia O Yuorieva  1 , Dmitry V Tereshonok  1 , Ilina I Tashlieva  1 , Marina K Derevyagina  2 , Alexei A Meleshin  2 , Eugene A Rogozhin  3   4 , Sergey A Kozlov  3
Affiliations

High Resistance of Potato to Early Blight Is Achieved by Expression of the Pro-SmAMP1 Gene for Hevein-Like Antimicrobial Peptides from Common Chickweed (Stellaria media)

Denis V Beliaev et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

In the common chickweed Stellaria media, two antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), SmAMP1.1a and SmAMP1.2a, have been shown to be proteolytically released as products of the expression of a single gene, proSmAMP1. In this study, the gene proSmAMP1 was introduced into two potato varieties, Zhukovsky ranny and Udacha. These early-maturing varieties were shown to be susceptible to early blight caused by Alternaria spp. Most transgenic lines of either variety having strong expression of the target gene demonstrated high levels of resistance to Alternaria spp. during three years of cultivation, but did not otherwise differ from the initial varieties. Disease severity index (DSI) was introduced as a complex measure of plant susceptibility to early blight, taking into account the diameter of lesions caused by the Alternaria spp., the fungus sporulation intensity and its incubation period duration. Across all transgenic lines, the DSI inversely correlated both with the target gene expression and the copy number in the plant genome. Our results are promising for improving the resistance of potato and other crops to early blight by expression of AMPs from wild plants.

Keywords: Alternaria alternata; Alternaria solani; Solanum tuberosum; early blight; genetic engineering; hevein-like antimicrobial peptides.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Susceptibility of potato varieties to early blight measured in disease indices. The varieties used were: 8, Udacha; 1, Zhukovsky ranny; 2, Yubiley Zhukova; 29, Skoroplodny; 3, Nikulinsky.
Figure 2
Figure 2
PCR analysis data of ProSmAMP1 transgene expression in transformants 270, 334, 344 and 375 derived from variety Udacha (8) and in transformants 371, 372, 376, 377, 382 and 387 derived from variety Zhukovsky ranny (1). Lines 371 and 372 of Zhukovskii ranny variety and lines 270 and 344 of Udacha variety are shown in orange since the product of ProSmAMP1 in these lines was confirmed by proteomics.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Southern hybridizations of HindIII-digested genomic DNA of potato transformants of (a) Udacha and (b) Zhukovsky ranny varieties. Of Udacha, 8, 270,342,344 and 375, initial variety and the transformed lines; of Zhukovsky ranny, 1, 371,372,377 and 378, initial variety and the transformed lines.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Early blight symptoms in the Alternaria spp. inoculated leaves of initial potato varieties and their respective transgenes: (a) Udacha and its transgenic lines 270, 344 and 375. Photos were taken in 2015; (b) Zhukovsky ranny and its transgenic lines 371, 372, 382, 376, 377 and 387. Photos were taken in 2016.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Disease severity indices (DSI) of the transformants inoculated with Alternaria spp. The inoculations were performed in 2012 (a), 2014 (b) and in 2015 with the Udacha transformants and in 2016 with the Zhukovsky ranny transformants (c). * and # designate lines significantly different from the initial variety (p < 0.05).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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