Expression of Pinellia pedatisecta Lectin Gene in Transgenic Wheat Enhances Resistance to Wheat Aphids

Wheat aphids are major pests during the seed filling stage of wheat. Plant lectins are toxic to sap-sucking pests such as wheat aphids. In this study, agglutinin ( ), a gene encoding mannose binding lectin, was cloned, and it shared 92.69% nucleotide similarity and 94% amino acid similarity with agglutinin ( ). The gene, driven by the constitutive and phloem-specific ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit gene ( ) promoter in pBAC-rbcs-ppa expression vector, was transferred into the wheat cultivar Baofeng104 (BF104) by particle bombardment transformation. Fifty-four T₀ transgenic plants were generated. The inheritance and expression of the gene were confirmed by PCR and RT-PCR analysis respectively, and seven homozygous transgenic lines were obtained. An aphid bioassay on detached leaf segments revealed that seven transgenic wheat lines had lower aphid growth rates and higher inhibition rates than BF104. Furthermore, two-year aphid bioassays in isolated fields showed that aphid numbers per tiller of transgenic lines were significantly decreased, compared with wild type BF104. Therefore, could be a strong biotechnological candidate to produce aphid-resistant wheat.