Abstract
This is the first study reporting the evaluation of transgenic lines of tomato harboring rice chitinase (RCG3) gene for resistance to two important fungal pathogens
Fusarium oxysporum
f. sp
. lycopersici
(
Fol
) causing fusarium wilt and
Alternaria solani
causing early blight (EB). In this study, three transgenic lines TL1, TL2 and TL3 of tomato
Solanum lycopersicum
Mill. cv. Riogrande genetically engineered with rice chitinase (RCG 3) gene and their R1 progeny was tested for resistance to
Fol
by root dip method and
A. solani
by detached leaf assay. All the R0 transgenic lines were highly resistant to these fungal pathogens compared to non-transgenic control plants. The pattern of segregation of three independent transformant for
Fol
and
A. solani
was also studied. Mendelian segregation was observed in transgenic lines 2 and 3 while it was not observed in transgenic line 1. It was concluded that introduction of chitinase gene in susceptible cultivar of tomato not only enhanced the resistance but was stably inherited in transgenic lines 2 and 3.