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Poster

Session: Session 2 Presenting Authors at Posters (Odds)

P-211 - Rhizobium rhizogenes A4-derived strains mediate hyper-efficient transient gene expression in Nicotiana benthamiana and other solanaceous plants

Wednesday, July 16, 2025
13:30 - 15:15  
Location: Confex Hall 3
Engineering plant-microbe traits

    Presenting Author(s)

  • JL

    Juan Carlos Lopez-Agudelo

    PhD Student
    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, TAIWAN

    • Author(s)

  • FG

    Foong-Jing Goh

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • ST

    Sopio Tchabashvili

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • YH

    Yu-Seng Huang

    Max Plank Institute for Biology Tübingen
    Reutlingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

  • CH

    Ching-Yi Huang

    Max Plank Institute for Biology Tübingen
    Tübingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

  • KL

    Kim-Teng Lee

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • YW

    Yi-Chieh Wang

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • CG

    Chih-Horng Guo

    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • EL

    Erh-Min Lai

    Professor
    Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

  • CW

    Chih-Hang Wu

    Associate Research Fellow
    Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica
    Taipei City, Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China)

Agroinfiltration, a method using agrobacteria to transfer DNA into plant cells, is widely used for transient gene expression in plants. Besides the commonly used Agrobacterium strains, Rhizobium rhizogenes can also deliver foreign DNA into host plants. While many R. rhizogenes strains have been known for inducing hairy root symptoms, their use for transient expression has not been fully explored. Here, we showed that R. rhizogenes A4 outperformed all other tested agrobacterial strains in agroinfiltration assays on leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana and other solanaceous plants. By conducting an agroinfiltration screening in N. benthamiana using various agrobacterial strains carrying the RUBY reporter, we discovered that A4 mediates the strongest and fastest transient expression. Utilizing the genomic information, we developed a collection of disarmed and modified strains derived from A4. By performing vacuum infiltration assays, we showed that these A4-derived strains efficiently transiently transform 6-week-old N. benthamiana leaves compared to the GV3101 strain. Furthermore, we performed agroinfiltration using the A4-derived strain AS109 on the leaves of tomato, pepper, and eggplant. Remarkably, AS109 mediated transient gene expression more effectively than all tested commonly used strains. This discovery paves the way for establishing A4-derived strains for enhancing transient expression in N. benthamiana and facilitating functional studies in other solanaceous species.