TRANSFER OF GLUCANASE GENE TO RESIST LATE BLIGHT DISEASE IN POTATO

Abstract

Potato late blight is a pandemic disease caused by the highly virulent Phytophthora infestans fungus. Two different types of explants (internode and leaf) were cultured for induction and regeneration from three potato cultivars (Spounta, Diamont and Desiree). The highest value of Desiree leaf explants was 80% induced from develop callus in 2.4.Dmedia.The best value of maximum shoot regeneration was 90.3 for Spounta in NAA and 4mg/L KIN media form internode and 88.4 for Desiree in BA, IAA and GA3 media from leaf proved to be more effective. Cloning of glucanase gene in pRI 201-AN plasmid which carrying kanamycin resistance (nptII) gene were perfomed and followed by transformation in Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 which used for plant transfection. Nucleotide and amino acid sequences of transformed Agrobacterium were analyzed. The putatively transgenic plants were confirmed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for genomic and cDNA. Keywords: Potato, Late blight, Glucanase gene