Production of Transgenic Local Varieties of Squash
& Some Varieties of Melon Plants Resistant to
Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Potyvirus (ZYMV)

Plant viruses can cause devastating losses to many agricultural crops by reducing either the yield or the quality of the crop. In contrast, control of these virus diseases through using of the chemical, inspection and rouging was not effective enough. The possible future options for control of the plant viruses should include developing resistant transgenic plants.

In Egypt, the local varieties of squash (Escandarani) and two varieties of melons (Shahd El-Dokki and Ananas El-Dokki) were susceptible to cucumber mosaic Cucumovirus (CMV), watermelon mosaic Potyvirus-2 (WMV-2) and ZYMV.

At AGERI, we developed transformation and regeneration system for both squash and melon varieties. In addition, transgenic squash and melon plants belonging to the previous varieties are produced by introducing the coat protein gene of the Connecticut strain of ZYMV as well as the Egyptian strain of the same virus. The transgenic plants are evaluated under either greenhouse or field conditions by detection of the characteristic symptoms of ZYMV and ELISA detection using an ELISA kit of ZYMV produced in AGERI. Furthermore, we are developing other different techniques for rapid detection of cucurbit viruses through ELISA, nucleic acid hybridization, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), western blotting and immunocapture-PCR (IC-PCR).

OBJECTIVES

•  Isolation, cloning and sequencing of the coat protein gene of ZYMV-E and determination of its similarity to the ZYMV coat protein sequences determined throughout the world.

•  Development of the regeneration and transformation systems for the Egyptian squash (Escandarani) and melon (Shahd El-Dokki and Ananas El-Dokki) varieties.

•  Transformation of the coat protein gene of ZYMV-E into the Egyptian squash (Escandarani) and melon (Shahd El-Dokki and Ananas El-Dokki) varieties.

•  Evaluation of the transgenic plants under either greenhouse and field conditions using some serological and molecular tools.

healthy squash plant

ZYMV-infected squash leaf

squash plants showing severe symptoms of ZYMV

healthy squash fruits

ZYMV-infected squash fruits