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Performance of a tetracycline-responsive transactivator system for regulating transgenes in the oomycete Phytophthora infestans

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Abstract

The oomycete genus Phytophthora includes many important plant pathogens for which extensive genome data exist, but lacking is an inducible expression system to study contributions of their genes to growth and pathogenicity. Here the adaptation of the reverse tetracycline transactivator (rtTA) system to P. infestans is described. Vectors were developed containing rtTA expressed from an oomycete promoter, and β-glucuronidase (GUS) controlled by TetR binding sites fused to a minimal oomycete promoter. Transformants were obtained in which GUS was expressed in a dose-dependent manner by the rtTA inducer doxycycline, indicating that the gene switch functions in P. infestans. However, toxicity of rtTA hindered the isolation of transformants if expressed on the same plasmid as the nptII selection marker. Better results were obtained by cotransforming those genes on separate plasmids, with 92% of transformants acquiring both DNAs although only 4% expressed rtTA at detectable levels. Low levels of reporter activity were measured in such transformants, suggesting that rtTA activated transcription weakly. Also, significant variation in the sensitivity of isolates to doxycycline and tetracycline was observed. These results are useful both in terms of developing tools for functional genomics and understanding the fate of DNA during Phytophthora transformation.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by grants to H. S. J. from Syngenta Limited, the University of California Discovery Grant Program, and the National Research Initiative Competitive Grant Program of the United States Department of Agriculture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Howard S. Judelson, Reena Narayan, Audrey M. V. Ah Fong, Shuji Tani & Kyoung Su Kim

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  1. Howard S. Judelson
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  2. Reena Narayan
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  3. Audrey M. V. Ah Fong
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  4. Shuji Tani
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  5. Kyoung Su Kim
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Correspondence to Howard S. Judelson.

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Communicated by H. Osiewacz.

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Judelson, H.S., Narayan, R., Ah Fong, A.M.V. et al. Performance of a tetracycline-responsive transactivator system for regulating transgenes in the oomycete Phytophthora infestans . Curr Genet 51, 297–307 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-007-0125-2

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