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PLANTS INTERACTING WITH OTHER ORGANISMS

Antisense Suppression of a (+)--Cadinene Synthase Gene in Cotton Prevents the Induction of This Defense Response Gene during Bacterial Blight Infection But Not Its Constitutive Expression^1,[w]

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation-Plant Industry, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 2601, Australia (B.J.T., A.P., D.J.L.); and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (B.J.T.) and Research School of Chemistry (C.J.B.), Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory 0200, Australia

In cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) the enzyme (+)--cadinene synthase (CDNS) catalyzes the first committed step in the biosynthesis of cadinane-type sesquiterpenes, such as gossypol, that provide constitutive and inducible protection against pests and diseases. A cotton cDNA clone encoding CDNS (cdn1-C4) was isolated from developing embryos and functionally characterized. Southern analysis showed that CDNS genes belong to a large multigene family, of which five genomic clones were studied, including three pseudogenes and one gene that may represent another subfamily of CDNS. CDNS expression was shown to be induced in cotton infected with either the bacterial blight or verticillium wilt pathogens. Constructs for the constitutive or seed-specific antisense suppression of cdn1-C4 were introduced into cotton by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Gossypol levels were not reduced in the seeds of transformants with either construct, nor was the induction of CDNS expression affected in stems of the constitutive antisense plants infected with Verticillium dahliae Kleb. However, the induction of CDNS mRNA and protein in response to bacterial blight infection of cotyledons was completely blocked in the constitutive antisense plants. These results suggest that cdn1-C4 may be involved specifically in the bacterial blight response and that the CDNS multigene family comprises a complex set of genes differing in their temporal and spatial regulation and responsible for different branches of the cotton sesquiterpene pathway.

² Present address: The Sainsbury Laboratory, John Innes Centre, Colney Lane, Norwich NR4 7UH, UK.

^[w] The online version of this article contains Web-only data.

Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.104.056010.

^* Corresponding author; e-mail danny.llewellyn{at}csiro.au; fax 61–2–6246–5000.

Received November 3, 2004; returned for revision February 15, 2005; accepted March 2, 2005.

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