Caracterização molecular e fenotípica de bananeira cultivar terra transformada com o gene stx

Abstract

Banana and plantain production is affected by several diseases, such as Moko, caused by Ralstonia solanacearum race 2. Use of resistant varieties is the most desirable control method, but most available banana genotypes are highly susceptible and no resistant sources are known. In this sense, researchers at Embrapa Cassava and Tropical Fruits started studies aiming to obtain resistant plants by using genetic engineering approaches. These studies generated several transgenic lines of the banana cultivar Terra Maranhão (AAB) carrying the stx gene, which encodes to sarcotoxin IA. This work aimed to characterize at phenotypic and molecular levels these transgenic lines by means of comparative analysis with its relative wild type. Studies addressed to a) confirm the insertion copy number of stx gene, b) characterize morphologically the plants, c) verify the effect of stx expression against endophytic and rhizosphere associated microorganism and d) evaluate the resistance to banana Moko disease, were performed. Southern blot analyses confirmed the stx gene insertion. Only the 27