Transformation of Fuji Apple Plant Harboring the Coat Protein Gene of Cucumber mosaic virus

Lee, C. H.; Hyung, N. I.; Lee, G. P.; Choi, J. Y.; Kim, C. S.; Choi, S. H.; Jang, I. O.; Han, D. H.; Ryu, K. H.

The Plant Pathology Journal 2003;19(3):162-165.
Published online June 30, 2003.

Transformation of Fuji Apple Plant Harboring the Coat Protein Gene of Cucumber mosaic virus

C. H. Lee, N. I. Hyung, G. P. Lee, J. Y. Choi, C. S. Kim, S. H. Choi, I. O. Jang, D. H. Han, K. H. Ryu

Abstract

Transformation of Fuji apple (Malus domestica ``Fuji``) was performed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens harboring a coat protein (CP) gene of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). A plasmid DNA containing the virus CP and NPT II genes was introduced into the leaves of apple by the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation procedure. Regenerated transformants of the apple were obtained by kanamycin resistance conferred by the introduced NPT II gene. PCR analysis showed that 3 out of 20 putatively selected R0 plant lines contain the CMV-CP gene. Nine putative transgenic lines out of 20 lines were investigated with the PCR analysis; 5 regenerants produced a 450 bp DNA band and 3 regenerants showed a 671 bp DNA band for the NPT II and CMVCP genes, respectively. Southern hybridization results demonstrate the successful integration of the CMV-CP gene into the genome of the apple. This is the first report on the generation of useful virus resistance source of transgenic apple for molecular breeding program.

Key Words: Apple, Fuji, coat protein, CMV, NPT 2 gene, transformation, virus resistance