Characterization of transgenic grapevine ectopically expressing plant defensin peptides

5.2.2.2 Whole plant infection assay with B. cinerea 124 5.2.2.3 Detached leaf infection assay with the biotrophic fungus E. necator 125 5.2.2.4 Survival assay with the soft scale insect P. ficus 128 5.3.Results 128 5.3.1.In silico analysis of the expression patterns of grapevine DEFL genes in response to biotic stress 128 5.3.2.Whole plant infection assay of V. vinifera (cvs.Sultana and Red Globe) transgenic population ectopically expressing plant defensins Hc-AFP1 and Rs-AFP2 respectively with the necrotrophic fungus B. cinerea 129 5.3.3.Detached leaf infection assays with the biotrophic fungus E. necator 134 5.3.3.1 Assessment of the development of E. necator infection in Sultana and Red Globe transgenic lines 134 5.3.3.2Assessment of the germination and penetration of E. necator conidia on the control and transgenic lines with the Scanning electron microscope (SEM) 134 5.3.3.3Characterization of resistance mechanisms of transgenic Sultana lines to E. necator infection.137 5.3.3.4Characterization of resistance mechanisms of transgenic Red Globe lines to E. necator infection 141 5.3.4.Whole plant survival assay of the soft scale insect P. ficus on transgenic and control grapevine plants 144 5.4.Discussion 145 5.5.Acknowledgements 150 5.6.References 150 Addendum A 155 Chapter 6. Phenotyping of transgenic grapevine ectopically expressing Vv-AMP1, Hc-AFP1 and Rs-AFP2 defensin peptides for their response towards drought stress 160 6.2.5 Leaf and stem water potential measurements 6.3 Results 6.3.1 In silico analysis of and data mining of grapevine DEFL genes in abiotic stress 6.3.2Comparison of the physiological reaction of Sultana and Red Globe wild type plants in reaction to active drying experiments in low and ambient light conditions 6.3.3Analysis of the V. vinifera transgenic populations under non-stressed and stressed (active drying) conditions, in comparison with untransformed controls 6.4 Discussion 6.5 Acknowledgements 6.6 References Addendum A Addendum B Chapter 7. General discussion and conclusions 7.1 The scope of the study 7.2 Characterization of the plant resources available to this study 7.3 Major findings form the phenotypical characterization studies, including a critical evaluation to contextualize the results obtained 7.4 Conclusions and future prospects 7.5 References