Engineered detoxification confers resistance against a pathogenic bacterium

We generated transgenic sugarcane plants that express an albicidin detoxify ing gene (albD), which was cloned from a bacterium that provides biocontrol against leaf scald disease. Plants with albicidin detoxification capacity equivalent to 1-10 ng of AlbD enzyme per mg of leaf protein did not develop chlorotic disease symptoms in inoculated leaves, whereas all untransformed control plants developed severe symptoms. Transgenic lines with high AlbD activity in young stems were also protected against systemic multiplication of the pathogen, which is the precursor to economic disease. We have shown that genetic modification to express a toxin-resistance gene can confer re sistance to both disease symptoms and multiplication of a toxigenic pathoge n in its host.