1. Engineering Fusarium head blight resistance in wheat by expression of a fusion protein containing a Fusarium-specific antibody and an antifungal peptide.
- Author
-
Li HP, Zhang JB, Shi RP, Huang T, Fischer R, and Liao YC
- Subjects
- Animals, Antibodies, Fungal genetics, Antibodies, Fungal physiology, Blotting, Southern, Blotting, Western, Chickens, Fungal Proteins genetics, Fungal Proteins physiology, Fusarium growth & development, Immunity, Innate genetics, Plant Diseases genetics, Plant Diseases microbiology, Plants, Genetically Modified genetics, Plants, Genetically Modified microbiology, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Recombinant Fusion Proteins physiology, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Fusarium immunology, Genetic Engineering methods, Recombinant Fusion Proteins genetics, Triticum genetics, Triticum microbiology
- Abstract
Fusarium head blight (FHB) or scab of wheat is a devastating disease in warm and humid regions at wheat-flowering periods worldwide. Natural resistance against FHB pathogens is inadequate and the development of FHB-resistant wheat cultivars has been a challenge. Expression of pathogen-specific antibodies in plants has been proposed as a strategy for crop protection. In this study, an antibody fusion protein comprising a Fusarium-specific recombinant antibody derived from chicken and an antifungal peptide from Aspergillus giganteus was expressed in wheat as a method for protecting plants against FHB pathogens. Plants expressing the antibody fusion displayed a very significantly enhanced resistance in T2 and T3 generations upon single-floret inoculation with the macroconidia of Fusarium asiaticum, the predominant species causing FHB in China, indicating a type II resistance. Spraying inoculation further revealed an enhanced type I resistance in the transgenic wheat plants. Remarkably, more grains were produced in the transgenic plants than the nontransgenic controls. Our results demonstrated that the antibody fusion protein may be used as an effective tool for the protection of crops against FHB pathogens.
- Published
- 2008
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