GENETIC-ENGINEERING OF PARTHENOCARPIC PLANTS

Transgenic tobacco and eggplants expressing the coding region of the i aaM gene from Pseudomonas syringae pv. savastanoi, under the control o f the regulatory sequences of the ovule-specific DefH9 gene from Antir rhinum majus, showed parthenocarpic fruit development Expression of th e DefH9-iaaM chimeric transgene occurs during flower development in bo th tobacco and eggplant. Seedless fruits were produced by emasculated flowers. When pollinated, the parthenocarpic plants produced fruits co ntaining seeds. In eggplant, the genetic manipulation allowed fruit se t and growth under environmental conditions prohibitive for fruit sett ing in the untransformed line, which did not set fruit at all. Under n ormal environmental conditions, production of marketable fruits took p lace from pollinated and unpollinated transgenic flowers, while flower s of untransformed control plants did produce fruits of marketable siz e only from fertilized flowers.