摘要：

Large efforts have focused on screening for genes involved in the virulence and pathogenicity ofVerticillium dahliae, a destructive fungal pathogen of numerous plant species that is difficult to control once the plant is infected. AlthoughAgrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation (ATMT) has been widely used for gene screening, a quick and easy method has been needed to facilitate transformation. High-quality protoplasts, with excellent regeneration efficiency (65 %) in TB3 broth (yeast extract 30 g, casamino acids 30 g and 200g sucrose in 1L H20), were generated using driselase (Sigma D-9515) and transformed with the GFP plasmid or linear GFP cassette using PEG or electroporation. PEG-mediated transformation yielded 600 transformants per microgram DNA for the linear GFP cassette and 250 for the GFP plasmid; electroporation resulted in 29 transformants per microgram DNA for the linear GFP cassette and 24 for the GFP plasmid. To determine whether short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) can be delivered to the protoplasts and used for silencing genes, we targeted theGFPgene of Vd-GFP (V. dahliaeGFP strain obtained in this study) by delivering one of four different siRNAs—19-nt duplex with 2-nt 3′ overhangs (siRNA-gfp1, siRNA-gfp2, siRNA-gfp3 and siRNA-gfp4)—into the Vd-GFP protoplasts using PEG-mediated transformation. Up to 100 % silencing ofGFPwas obtained with siRNA-gfp4; the other siRNAs were less effective (up to 10 % silencing).Verticilliumtranscription activator of adhesion (Vta2) gene ofV. dahliaewas also silenced with four siRNAs (siRNA-vta1, siRNA-vta2, siRNA-vta3 and siRNA-vta4) independently and together using the same approach; siRNA-vta1 had the highest silencing efficiency as assessed by colony diameter and quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis. Our quick, easy transformation method can be used to investigate the function of genes involved in growth, virulence and pathogenicity ofV. dahliae. The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12896-016-0287-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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