Screening of a Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) cDNA Library To Isolate a Bowman−Birk Trypsin Inhibitor Clone

Peanut crop losses due to insect and pest infestation cost peanut farmers nearly 20% of their annual yields. The conventional use of chemicals to combat this problem is costly and toxic to humans and livestock and leads to the development of resistance by target insects. Transgenic plants expressing a trypsin inhibitor gene in tobacco and cowpea have proven to be efficient for resistance against insects. Therefore, a transgenic peanut overexpressing a trypsin inhibitor gene could be an alternative solution to the use of toxic chemicals. Five Bowman−Birk trypsin inhibitor (BBTI) proteins were previously isolated from peanut. However, to date, neither cDNA nor genomic DNA sequences are available. The objective of this research was to screen a peanut cDNA library to isolate and sequence at least one full-length peanut BBTI cDNA clone. Two heterologous oligonucleotides were constructed on the basis of a garden pea (Pisum sativa) trypsin inhibitor nucleotide sequence and used as probes to screen a peanut lambda gt-11 cDNA library. Two positive and identical cDNA clones were isolated, subcloned into a pBluescript vector, and sequenced. Sequence analysis revealed a full-length BBTI cDNA of about 243 bp, with a start codon ATG at position +1 and a stop codon TGA at position +243. In the 3‘ end, two poly adenylation signals (AATAAA) were identified at positions +261 and +269. The isolated cDNA clone encodes a protein of 80 amino acid residues including a leader sequence of 11 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence is 100% identical to published sequences of peanut BBTI AI, AII, BI, and BIII and 81% identical to BII. Keywords: Peanut; Bowman−Birk trypsin inhibitor; insects; transgenics; cDNA library; heterologous probes; plant defense