Enhanced Tolerance against a Fungal Pathogen and Insect Resistance in Transgenic Tobacco Plants Overexpressing an Endochitinase Gene from <i>Serratia marcescens</i>

• Main Authors: Samantha Sarai Navarro-González, José Augusto Ramírez-Trujillo, Guadalupe Peña-Chora, Paul Gaytán, Abigail Roldán-Salgado, Gerardo Corzo, Laura Patricia Lina-García, Víctor Manuel Hernández-Velázquez, Ramón Suárez-Rodríguez
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-07-01
• Series: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
• Subjects: <i>Serratia marcescens</i>; bacterial chitinase; antifungal activity; transgenic plants; <i>Spodoptera frugiperda</i>
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/20/14/3482
• ISSN: 1422-0067

In this study we cloned a chitinase gene (<i>SmchiC</i>), from <i>Serratia marcescens</i> isolated from the corpse of a <i>Diatraea magnifactella</i> lepidopteran, which is an important sugarcane pest. The chitinase gene <i>SmchiC</i> amplified from the <i>S. marcescens</i> genome was cloned into the transformation vector p2X35SChiC and used to transform tobacco (<i>Nicotiana tabacum</i> L. cv Petit Havana SR1). The resistance of these transgenic plants to the necrotrophic fungus <i>Botrytis cinerea</i> and to the pest <i>Spodoptera frugiperda</i> was evaluated: both the activity of chitinase as well as the resistance against <i>B. cinerea</i> and <i>S. frugiperda</i> was significantly higher in transgenic plants compared to the wild-type.