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Overexpression of glutamate decarboxylase in transgenic tobacco plants deters feeding by phytophagous insect larvae.
- Source :
-
Journal of chemical ecology [J Chem Ecol] 2003 Sep; Vol. 29 (9), pp. 2177-82. - Publication Year :
- 2003
-
Abstract
- Gamma-aminobutyrate (GABA) is a ubiquitous four-carbon, non-protein amino acid synthesized by glutamate decarboxylase. Previous research suggests that the endogenous synthesis of GABA, a naturally occurring inhibitory neurotransmitter at neuromuscular junctions, serves as a plant resistance mechanism against invertebrate pests. In this study, two homozygous transgenic tobacco lines constitutively overexpressing a single copy of a full-length chimeric glutamate decarboxylase cDNA and possessing enhanced capacity for GABA accumulation (GAD plants), a homozygous transgenic line lacking the gene insert, and wild-type tobacco were employed. Tobacco budworm larvae were presented with plant attached wild type and transgenic leaves for 4 hr in a feeding preference study. Larvae consumed six to twelve times more leaf tissue from wild-type plants than from GAD plants. These results suggest that leaf GABA accumulation, which is known to occur in response to insect larval walking and feeding, represents a rapidly deployed local resistance mechanism.
- Subjects :
- Animals
Biological Assay
DNA, Complementary
Feeding Behavior
Glutamate Decarboxylase genetics
Larva
Plants, Edible chemistry
Gene Expression Regulation
Glutamate Decarboxylase biosynthesis
Glutamate Decarboxylase pharmacology
Insect Control methods
Moths physiology
Plants, Genetically Modified
Nicotiana chemistry
Nicotiana genetics
gamma-Aminobutyric Acid metabolism
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 0098-0331
- Volume :
- 29
- Issue :
- 9
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- Journal of chemical ecology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 14584684
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1025650914947