Expression of an engineered cecropin gene cassette in transgenic tobacco plants confers disease resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv tabaci

A chimeric gene fusion cassette, consisting of a secretory sequence from barley alpha-amylase joined to a modified cecropin (MB39) coding sequence and placed under control of the promoter and terminator from the potato proteinase inhibitor II (PiII) gene, was introduced into tobacco by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic and control plants reacted differently when inoculated with tobacco wildfire pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv tabaci at various cell concentrations. With control plants (transformed with a PiII-GUS [beta-D-glucuronidase] gene fusion), necrosis was clearly visible in leaf tissue infiltrated with bacterial inoculum levels of 10(2), 10(3), 10(4), 10(5), and 10(6) CFU/ml. With MB39-transgenic plants, however, necrosis was observed only in the areas infiltrated with the two highest levels (10(5) and 10(6) CFU/ml). No necrosis was evident in areas infiltrated with bacterial concentrations of 10(4) CFU/ml or less. Bacterial multiplication in leaves of MB39-transgenic plants was suppressed more than 10-fold compared to control plants, and absence of disease symptom development was associated with this growth suppression. We conclude that the pathogen-induced promoter and the secretory sequence were competent elements for transforming a cecropin gene into an effective disease-control gene for plants.