Transformação genética de feijão-caupi [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp] e tabaco (Nicotiana tabacum) com uma quitinase de classe I

Abstract

Heterologous expression of genes encoding pathogenesis related proteins (PR-proteins) represents a promising alternative for the development of plants resistant to fungi. Among the PR-proteins with great biotechnological potentials are the chitinases, a class of hydrolases which catalyze the degradation of chitin, a polymer constituent of cell wall of several species of pathogenic fungi. Besides their function related to defense mechanisms, it is believed that these enzymes may play other roles, such as regulation of growth and development processes in plants. Using two approaches, this study sought to investigate the role of a class I chitinase of cowpea (VuChiI) in defense and plant development. The first approach consisted of silencing of the gene encoding for VuChiI in cowpea. Apical meristems excised from cowpea seeds were bombarded with microparticles containing a silencing vector (pKANNIBAL), which was cloned with a construct harboring an intron harpin of the gene VuChiI. Plants regenerated in a Murashige and Skoog (MS) media containing imazapyr as a selection agent, were analyzed by PCR, resulting in confirmation of genetic transformation of five plants from the 1092 apical meristems bombarded. Northern blot analysis of total RNA extracted from the putative transgenic plants allowed for the detection of siRNAs. Upon regeneration and germination, only one of the five transformed plants produced a pod containing six seeds. Of these, only one germinated when further planted. The transformed plants exhibited a life cycle of over 365 days, as against the normal cycle of 65-70 days. Based on these results we posit that silencing of class I cowpea chitinase may have led to changes in plant development. The second strategy consisted of co-cultivation of tobacco leaf discs with Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LB4404 suspension to express recombinant protein in the extracellular space of the regenerated plants in order to expose the protein fungus even before its penetration into the plant cell. To achieve this, a sequence of cowpea chitinase insert was cloned into the binary vector pCAMBIA1305.2 under the control of CaMV35S promoter and signal peptide fused to glycine-rich protein of Oryza sativa (GRP), which allowed the secretion of recombinant protein via apoplast. This led to the generation of three strains as confirmed by PCR. Seeds obtained from transformed R1 generation of the plants were germinated and analyzed for transmission of the transgene using X2 test, which confirmed its transmission to the progeny in a Mendelian fashion. The experimental models developed in this work may serve to further assess the biological roles of class I chitinase from cowpea.