Chunhua Hu^* , Kai Liu^* , Yuerong Wei , Guiming Deng , Chunyun Li , Ruibing Kuang , Qiaosong Yang , Ganjun Yi

Fruit Tree Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Science/Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Resource Utilization of Fruit Trees in South Subtropics, the Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou, 510640, China
Author    Correspondence author
Molecular Plant Breeding, 2016, Vol. 7, No. 34   doi: 10.5376/mpb.2016.07.0034
Received: 05 Sep., 2016    Accepted: 26 Oct., 2016    Published: 16 Dec., 2016

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Hu C.H., Liu K., Wei Y.R., Deng G.M., Li C.Y., Kuang R.B., Yang Q.S., and Yi G.J., 2016, Overexpression of Arabidopsis CBF1 gene in transgenic Furenzhi banana (Musa spp. AA group)improves resistance to low temperature, Molecular Plant Breeding, 7(34): 1-10 (doi: 10.5376/mpb.2016.07.0034)

Cold is an environmental factor that limits the growing season of banana and adversely affects fruit quality and productivity. C-repeat/dehydration responsive element binding factor 1 (CBF1) play important roles in the responses of plants to low-temperature and cold. To test the function and potential use of cold-induced factor CBF1 in improving the chill tolerance of banana, AtCBF1 driven by a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter was introduced into banana plants by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of embryogenic cell suspensions (ECSs) of banana cultivar Furenzhi (AA). The presence of AtCBF1 transgenes in regenerated plants was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blots. ß-glucoronidase (GUS) histochemical assays reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and real-time PCR analysis demonstrated that foreign genes were stably expressed in regenerated plants. Transgenic banana showed growth retardation, thicker leaves and higher chlorophyll content than non-transformed plants. While relative electrolyte leakage (REL) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were significantly lower in transgenic banana plants than in non-transformed plants under low temperature stress. An obviously higher cold tolerance was observed among the transgenic plants in the cold detection. These results suggest that over-expression of AtCBF1 in transgenic banana plants plays an important role in improving tolerance to low-temperature.

Banana; AtCBF1 gene; Transgenic; Cold resistance