Use of ex vitro composite plants to study the interaction of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) with the root parasitic angiosperm Striga gesnerioides

BackgroundCowpea (Vigna unguiculata L.) is an important grain and forage legume grown throughout sub-Saharan Africa primarily by subsistence farmers on poor, drought prone soils. Genetic improvement of the crop is being actively pursued and numerous functional genomics studies are underway aimed at characterizing gene controlling key agronomic characteristics for disease and pest resistances. Unfortunately, similar to other legumes, efficient plant transformation technology is a rate-limiting step in analysis of gene function in cowpea.ResultsHere we describe an optimized protocol for the rapid generation of transformed hairy roots on ex vitro composite plants of cowpea using Agrobacterium rhizogenes. We further demonstrate the applicability of cowpea composite plants to study gene expression involved in the resistance response of the plant roots to attack by the root parasitic weed, Striga gesnerioides. The utility of the new system and critical parameters of the method are described and discussed herein.ConclusionsCowpea composite plants offer a rapid alternative to methods requiring stable transformation and whole plant regeneration for studying gene expression in resistance or susceptibility responses to parasitic weeds. Their use can likely be readily adapted to look at the effects of both ectopic gene overexpression as well as gene knockdown of root associated defense responses and to the study of a broader range of root associated physiological and aphysiological processes including root growth and differentiation as well as interactions with other root pests, parasites, and symbionts.

• Publication year

  2012

• Venue

  Plant Methods

• Publication date

  2012-06-28

• Fields of study

  Agricultural and Food Sciences, Medicine, Biology, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1186/1746-4811-8-22PMID 22741546PMCID 3441300
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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