USE OF A LYSOZYME OF BROAD SPECIFICITY TO PROTECT PLANTS AGAINST BACTERIAL PATHOGENS.

BACTERIAL INVASION OF CROP PLANTS CAUSES ECONOMICALLY IMPORTANT DAMAGE. A COMMERCIAL IMPROVEMENT OF THESE PLANTS WOULD BE A GREATER RESISTANCE TO PHYTOPATHOGENIC BACTERIA. HENCE, THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO EXPRESS A LYSOZYME OF HIGH SPECIFIC ACTIVITY IN A PLANT AND SHOW A BROAD SPECTRUM RESISTANCE TO PHYTOPATHOGENIC BACTERIA. THE LYSOZYME GENE OF FIRST CHOICE WILL BE THE HENEGG-WHITE LYSOZYME GENE BECAUSE THERE IS PUBLIC INFORMATION DESCRIBING THE ISOLATION AND SEQUENCING OF THE GENE. AN INTRONLESS VERSION OF THIS GENE HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE EXPRESSIBLE IN YEAST. IN PHASE I, WE PROPOSE TO DETERMINE THE CONCENTRATIONS OF HEN EGG-WHITE LYSOZYME REQUIRED TO LYSE SEVERAL SPECIES OF PHYTOPATHOGENIC BACTERIA UNDER PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS. USING THAT INFORMATION, WE WILL DETERMINE IF EXOGENOUS LYSOZYME AT EFFECTIVE CONCENTRATIONS CAN PROTECT PLANTS FROM INFECTION. IF THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT HEN EGG-WHITE LYSOZYME COULD PROTECT AT A CONCENTRATIONWHICH COULD REASONABLY BE EXPECTED TO BE ACHIEVABLE THROUGH TRANSFORMATION AND EXPRESSION IN THE PLANT, THEN PHASE II WILL INVOLVE THE TRANSFORMATION OF A PLANT SPECIES TO STABLY INSERT THE LYSOZYME GENE INTO THE GENOME AND THE DEMONSTRATION OF INCREASED BACTERIAL RESISTANCE OF THE TRANSFORMED PLANTS.