Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and – Method of introducing a polynucleotide molecule into or... – The polynucleotide confers pathogen or pest resistance
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-04
2001-02-13
Nelson, Amy J. (Department: 1638)
Multicellular living organisms and unmodified parts thereof and
Method of introducing a polynucleotide molecule into or...
The polynucleotide confers pathogen or pest resistance
C435S320100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06187995
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transgenic plant which exhibits resistance to at least one disease. In particular, the present invention relates to a transgenic plant which comprises an expression cassette including a thionin gene and being capable of expressing the thionin gene, and which exhibits resistance to at least one disease.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of agricultural production, there has been a general desire for stable production of high quality plants and reduction of dependency on agricultural chemicals. Accordingly, plant species exhibiting resistance to pests and pathogenic microbes have been vigorously improved, bred, and developed, by utilizing useful plant biotechnology techniques, e.g., plant cell fusion techniques and recombinant DNA techniques.
In fact, a transgenic plant exhibiting resistance to herbicides (Japanese Laid-open Publication No. 2-186925), a transgenic plant exhibiting resistance to viruses (Japanese Laid-open Publication No. 4-330233), and a transgenic plant exhibiting resistance to pests (Japanese Laid-open Publication No. 3-247220) have already been produced by employing recombinant DNA techniques.
Furthermore, several kinds of transgenic plants which exhibit resistance to plant pathogenic microbes have been produced, e.g., a transgenic plant which exhibits resistance to pathogenic filamentous fungi by the introduction of a gene encoding an enzyme which inactivates the toxins produced by pathogenic filamentous fungi (Anne S. Ponstein et. al., Plant Physiology, 104: 109-118, 1994), and a transgenic plant which exhibits resistance to at least one pathogenic microbe by the introduction of a gene encoding an antimicrobial protein from an insect (Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 7-250685).
The inventors isolated from leaves of
Avena sativa
a novel thionin, which is an antimicrobial protein, sequenced a gene encoding the thionin by a known method, and attempted transformation of a tobacco plant using the thionin gene (Japanese Laid-open Publication No. 8-266279). A transformed, redifferentiated tobacco plant has been obtained through this attempt.
However, it is not guaranteed that all transgenic plants will become practical and useful plants exhibiting high disease resistance because factors such as the species of the plant, transformation methods, expressed amounts and expression sites of the introduced genes, and influences of the gene products on the plant may vary the disease resistance or impede growth. Furthermore, it is known that it depends on each situation whether or not the acquired disease resistance will be stably passed down to progenies. For these reasons, it has been desired to produce a practical and useful plant exhibiting high disease resistance.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is to produce a plant which comprises an expression cassette including a thionin gene and being capable of expressing the thionin gene, thereby providing a plant exhibiting high resistance to at least one disease. Another object of the present invention is to provide a plant and a seed which allow such properties to be stably retained in progenies. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method for obtaining the aforementioned plant exhibiting high resistance.
The plant of the present invention is a plant exhibiting resistance to at least one disease, the plant comprising an expression cassette including a thionin gene, the expression cassette being capable of expressing the thionin gene.
The method for producing a disease resistant plant of the present invention is a method comprising the steps of constructing an expression vector containing an expression cassette including a thionin gene, the expression cassette being capable of expressing the thionin gene; transforming a plant cell with the expression vector; and regenerating a plant from the transformed plant cell.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the thionin is derived from a leaf of
Avena sativa.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disease resistant plant is a plant of Monocotyledoneae or Dicotyledoneae.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disease resistant plant is a plant of Poaceae or a plant of Solanaceae.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disease associated with the disease resistant plant is a disease caused by a plant pathogenic microbe, for example, a disease caused by a plant pathogenic bacterium (e.g., a bacterium causing bacterial leaf blight of rice or a bacterium causing bacterial seedling blight of rice) or a plant pathogenic filamentous fungus (e.g., a fungus causing late blight of potato).
The present invention also comprises a seed obtained from the disease resistant plant.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of (1) producing a plant which comprises an expression cassette including a thionin gene and being capable of expressing the thionin gene, thereby providing a plant exhibiting high resistance to at least one disease; (2) providing a plant and a seed which allow such properties to be stably retained in progenies; and (3) providing a method for obtaining the aforementioned plant exhibiting high disease resistance.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.
REFERENCES:
patent: 0 448 511 A1 (1991-03-01), None
patent: 08266279 (1996-10-01), None
patent: WO 92/20801 (1992-11-01), None
patent: WO 93/04586 (1993-03-01), None
patent: WO 94/16078 (1994-07-01), None
Carmona, M., et al. Expression of the a-thionin gene from barley in tobacco conifers enhanced resistance to bacterial pathogens,The Plant Journal, 3(3), 457-462 (1993).
Epple, P., et al., “Overexpression of an Endogenous Thionin Enhances Resistance ofArabidopsisAgainstFusarium oxysporum,”The Plant Cell, vol. 9, 509-520 (1997).
Broekaert, W., et al., “Antimicrobial Peptides from Plants,”Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 16(3): 297-323 (1997).
Holtorf, S., et al. “Specific and different expression patterns of two members of the leaf thionin multigene family of barley in transgenic tabacco,”Plant Science, 111:27-37 (1995).
Holtorf, S., et al., “High-level expression of a viscotoxin inArabidopsis thalianagives enhanced resistance against Plasmodiophora brassicae,”Plant Molecular Biology36:673-680 (1998).
Hirochika Hirohiko
Honkura Ryoso
Iwai Takayoshi
Mitsuhara Ichiro
Nakamura Shigeo
Director General of National Institute of Agrobiological Resourc
Nelson Amy J.
Townsend and Townsend / and Crew LLP
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