RESUMO
Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated genetic transformation and the regeneration of transgenic plants was achieved in Hevea brasiliensis. Immature anther-derived calli were used to develop transgenic plants. These calli were co-cultured with A. tumefaciens harboring a plasmid vector containing the H. brasiliensis superoxide dismutase gene (HbSOD) under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter. The beta-glucuronidase gene (uidA) was used for screening and the neomycin phosphotransferase gene (nptII) was used for selection of the transformed calli. Factors such as co-cultivation time, co-cultivation media and kanamycin concentration were assessed to establish optimal conditions for the selection of transformed callus lines. Transformed calli surviving on medium containing 300 mg l(-1) kanamycin showed a strong GUS-positive reaction. Somatic embryos were then regenerated from these transgenic calli on MS2 medium containing 2.0 mg l(-1) spermine and 0.1 mg l(-1) abscisic acid. Mature embryos were germinated and developed into plantlets on MS4 medium supplemented with 0.2 mg l(-1) gibberellic acid, 0.2 mg l(-1) kinetin (KIN) and 0.1 mg l(-1) indole-3-acetic acid. A transformation frequency of 4% was achieved. The morphology of the transgenic plants was similar to that of untransformed plants. Histochemical GUS assay revealed the expression of the uidA gene in embryos as well as leaves of transgenic plants. The presence of the uidA, nptII and HbSOD genes in the Hevea genome was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction amplification and genomic Southern blot hybridization analyses.
Assuntos
Hevea/fisiologia , Superóxido Dismutase/genética , Transformação Genética , Sequência de Bases , Primers do DNA , Vetores Genéticos , Hevea/embriologia , Hevea/enzimologia , Hevea/genética , Canamicina/farmacologia , Estresse Oxidativo , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase , RNA Mensageiro/genética , Regeneração , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa , Transformação Genética/efeitos dos fármacos , Árvores/enzimologia , Árvores/genética , Árvores/fisiologiaRESUMO
Tapping panel dryness (TPD) is one of the most destructive maladies affecting rubber plantations and is becoming a matter of serious concern. Reduced latex yield leading to total drying of the tapping panel is the obvious symptom. The cause of TPD syndrome is unknown but has been mostly attributed to abiotic causes. In India, the high yielding commercial clone RRII 105 is affected by TPD, leading to enormous losses. We have observed that TPD-affected trees show symptoms of bark scaling, cracking, drying, necrotic streaking, and browning of internal bark leading to the decay of internal tissues. Often prominent abnormal bulges on the lower part of tree trunks occur where the first panel begins to dry. Investigations on TPD-affected rubber samples did not reveal the association of fungus, bacterium, virus, or a protozoan. Total nucleic acid extracts purified from leaf and bark tissues of affected samples and analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under denaturing conditions of low salt and high temperature showed the presence of nucleic acids similar in electrophoretic mobility to low molecular weight (LMW) RNA, of ~359 nucleotides such as potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd). The LMW nucleic acid detected from TPD-affected samples was found to be RNA based on its sensitivity to RNase and insensitivity to DNase, phenol, and heat treatments. The LMW RNA was purified and cloned in a pUC 19-derived vector by using primers specific to PSTVd (1). The cloned DNA, when random labeled and used as probe reacted specifically to nucleic acid extracts from TPD-affected rubber trees but not from healthy tissue in dot-blot hybridization assays. Based on the above findings, a viroid etiology for TPD syndrome is proposed. Reference: (1) R. A. Owens, A. T. Candresse, and T. O. Diener. Virology 175:238, 1990.