Polynucleotides and methods for making plants resistant to fungal pathogens
This invention relates to polynucleotide sequences encoding a gene that can confer resistance to the plant pathogen Colletotrichum , which causes anthracnose stalk rot, leaf blight and top dieback in corn and other cereals. It further relates to plants and seeds of plants carrying chimeric genes comprising said polynucleotide sequences, which enhance or confer resistance to the plant pathogen Colletotrichum , and processes of making said plants and seeds. The invention further presents sequences that can be used as molecular markers that in turn can be used to identify the region of interest in corn lines resulting from new crosses and to quickly and efficiently introgress the gene from corn lines carrying said gene into other corn lines that do not carry said gene, in order to make them resistant to Colletotrichum and resistant to stalk rot.
1. An isolated polynucleotide comprising a polynucleotide operably linked to a heterologous promoter selected from the group consisting of: wherein the polynucleotide comprises a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide conferring or enhancing resistance to Colletotrichum , wherein the polypeptide has an amino acid sequence of at least 95% identity, when compared to SEQ ID NO: 3 based on the Needleman-Wunsch alignment algorithm.
2. The polynucleotide of claim 1 , wherein the nucleotide sequence comprises SEQ ID NO: 2.
3. The polynucleotide of claim 1 , wherein the nucleotide sequence comprises the sequence of the plasmid deposited as Patent Deposit No. NRRL B-30895.
4. A DNA construct comprising the polynucleotide of claim 1 .
5. A process for transforming a host cell, comprising transforming the host cell with the polynucleotide of claim 1 .
6. The process of claim 5 wherein the host cell is a plant cell.
7. The process of claim 6 wherein the plant cell is from maize.
8. A plant cell comprising the DNA construct of claim 4 .
9. A plant cell comprising the polynucleotide of claim 1 .
10. The plant cell of claim 9 , wherein said plant cell is from maize.
11. A process for producing a plant comprising transforming a plant cell with the recombinant DNA construct of claim 4 and regenerating a plant from the transformed plant cell.
12. A plant comprising the recombinant DNA construct of claim 4 .
13. The plant of claim 12 , wherein said plant is maize.
14. A seed comprising the recombinant DNA construct of claim 4 .
15. The seed of claim 14 , wherein said seed is maize seed.
16. A process of conferring or enhancing resistance to Colletotrichum , comprising transforming a plant with the recombinant DNA construct of claim 4 , thereby conferring or enhancing resistance to Colletotrichum.