Dataset Information

Transgenic American Chestnuts Do Not Inhibit Germination of Native Seeds or Colonization of Mycorrhizal Fungi.

ABSTRACT: The American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once an integral part of eastern United States deciduous forests, with many environmental, economic, and social values. This ended with the introduction of an invasive fungal pathogen that wiped out over three billion trees. Transgenic American chestnuts expressing a gene for oxalate oxidase successfully tolerate infections by this blight fungus, but potential non-target environmental effects should be evaluated before new restoration material is released. Two greenhouse bioassays evaluated belowground interactions between transgenic American chestnuts and neighboring organisms found in their native ecosystems. Potential allelopathy was tested by germinating several types of seeds, all native to American chestnut habitats, in the presence of chestnut leaf litter. Germination was not significantly different in terms of number of seeds germinated or total biomass of germinated seedlings in transgenic and non-transgenic leaf litter. Separately, ectomycorrhizal associations were observed on transgenic and non-transgenic American chestnut roots using field soil inoculum. Root tip colonization was consistently high (>90% colonization) on all plants and not significantly different between any tree types. These observations on mycorrhizal fungi complement previous studies performed on older transgenic lines which expressed oxalate oxidase at lower levels. Along with other environmental impact comparisons, these conclusions provide further evidence that transgenic American chestnuts are not functionally different with regard to ecosystem interactions than non-transgenic American chestnuts.

SUBMITTER: Newhouse AE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6060562 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Transgenic American Chestnuts Do Not Inhibit Germination of Native Seeds or Colonization of Mycorrhizal Fungi.

Newhouse Andrew E AE Oakes Allison D AD Pilkey Hannah C HC Roden Hannah E HE Horton Thomas R TR Powell William A WA

Frontiers in plant science 20180719

The American chestnut (<i>Castanea dentata</i>) was once an integral part of eastern United States deciduous forests, with many environmental, economic, and social values. This ended with the introduction of an invasive fungal pathogen that wiped out over three billion trees. Transgenic American chestnuts expressing a gene for oxalate oxidase successfully tolerate infections by this blight fungus, but potential non-target environmental effects should be evaluated before new restoration material ...[more]

PMID: 30073011

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Project description:BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play an important role in plant nutrition and protection against pests and diseases, as well as in soil structuration, nutrient cycling and, generally speaking, in sustainable agriculture, particularly under drought, salinity and low input or organic agriculture. However, little is known about the genetics of the AMF-plant association in tomato. The aim of this study was the genetic analysis of root AMF colonization in tomato via the detection of the quantitative trait loci (QTLs) involved. METHODS:A population of 130 recombinant inbred lines derived from the wild species Solanum pimpinellifolium, genotyped for 1899 segregating, non-redundant single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the SolCAP tomato panel, was characterized for intensity, frequency and arbuscular abundance of AMF colonization to detect the QTLs involved and to analyse the genes within their peaks (2-2.6 Mbp). KEY RESULTS:The three AMF colonization parameters were highly correlated (0.78-0.97) and the best one, with the highest heritability (0.23), corresponded to colonization intensity. A total of eight QTLs in chromosomes 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 were detected. Seven of them simultaneously affected intensity and arbuscule abundance. The allele increasing the expression of the trait usually came from the wild parent in accordance with the parental means, and several epistatic interactions were found relevant for breeding purposes. SlCCaMK and SlLYK13 were found among the candidate genes. Carbohydrate transmembrane transporter activity, lipid metabolism and transport, metabolic processes related to nitrogen and phosphate-containing compounds, regulation of carbohydrates, and other biological processes involved in the plant defence were found to be over-represented within the QTL peaks. CONCLUSIONS:Intensity is genetically the best morphological measure of tomato root AMF colonization. Wild alleles can improve AMF colonization, and the gene contents of AMF colonization QTLs might be important for explaining the establishment and functioning of the AMF-plant symbiosis.

Dataset Information

Transgenic American Chestnuts Do Not Inhibit Germination of Native Seeds or Colonization of Mycorrhizal Fungi.

Publications

Transgenic American Chestnuts Do Not Inhibit Germination of Native Seeds or Colonization of Mycorrhizal Fungi.

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