R. Hightower et al., THE EXPRESSION OF CECROPIN PEPTIDE IN TRANSGENIC TOBACCO DOES NOT CONFER RESISTANCE TO PSEUDOMONAS-SYRINGAE PV TABACI, Plant cell reports, 13(5), 1994, pp. 295-299
We used in vitro growth inhibition assays to demonstrate that syntheti
c cecropin protein has potent activity against a range of plant pathog
enic bacteria. We then prepared transgenic tobacco plants which expres
s cecropin mRNA and protein. We have used Pseudomonas syringae pv taba
ci infection of these transgenic tobacco as a model system to evaluate
whether the plants which express cecropin protein also have increased
tolerance to infection. We found no dramatic difference in disease re
sponse between plants which are expressing cecropin protein and contro
l plants which were derived from the transformation with a binary vect
or which did not carry the gene encoding cecropin protein.