Late blight is one of the most economically important diseases affecting potato and causing a significant loss in yield. The development of transgenic potato plants with enhanced resistance to infection by Phytophthora infestans may represent a possible approach to solving this issue. A comparative study of the leaf response in control potato plants (S.tuberosum L. cultivar Skoroplodnyi), control transgenic plants expressing the reporter gene of thermostable lichenase (transgenic licBM3 line) and transgenic plants expressing cyanobacterial hybrid genes ∆9-acyl-lipid desaturase (transgenic desC lines) and ∆12-acyl-lipid desaturase (transgenic desA lines) to infection with P. infestans has been performed. The expression of desaturase genes in potato plants enhanced their tolerance to potato late blight agents as compared with the control. The lipid peroxidation level raised in the leaves of the control and transgenic desA plants on third day after inoculation with P. infestans zoospores and remained the same in the transgenic desC plants. The number of total phenolic compounds was increased as early as on the second day after infection in all studied variants and continued to remain the same, except for transgenic desC plants. Accumulation of flavonoids, the main components of the potato leaf phenolic complex, raised on the second day in all studied variants, remained unchanged on the third day in the control plants and decreased in most transgenic plants expressing desaturase genes. The results obtained in our study demonstrate that the expression of genes of Δ9- and Δ12-acyl-lipid desaturases in potato plants enhanced their resistance to P. infestans as compared with the control non-transgenic plants due to concomitant accumulation of phenolic compounds, including flavonoids, in the leaves. All these changes were more pronounced in transgenic desC plants, which indicates that the Δ9-acyllipid desaturase gene appears to be a potential inducer of the production of biological antioxidants in plant cells.

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Федеральное государственное бюджетное учреждение науки Институт физиологии растений им. К.А. Тимирязева Российской академии наук, Москва, Россия, elena-pr22@mail.ru Аннотация. Проведено изучение состава фенольных соединений в in vitro культивируемых растениях картофеля (Solanum tuberosum L.) и полученных из них линий, трансформированных генами ∆12-ацил-липидной десатуразы (desA) и ∆9-ацил-липидной десатуразы (desС), методом тонкослойной хроматографии и денситометрии. Представлены данные о составе и содержании основных компонентов фенольного комплекса, извлекаемых из листьев растений 96%-ным этанолом.Ключевые слова: картофель, in vitro, десатураза, фенольные соединенияAbstract. The composition of phenolic compounds the control and potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L., Skoroplodnyi cultivar) transformed with the Δ12 acyl-lipid desaturase gene (desA) and the Δ9 acyl-lipid desaturase gene (desC) were compared by thin-layer chromatography and densitometry. Data on the composition and content of the main components of the phenolic complex extracted from plant leaves with 96% ethanol are presented.