Genetic Engineering of Cotton and Corn for Enhanced Resistance to Aspergillus flavus

There are four objectives that will be addressed in this work: 1) identify if the antifungal peptide, D4E1, is being produced by cells of transgenic plants (either nuclear or plastid transformed tobacco, corn or cotton plants) expressing the D4E1 gene and in what quantities and where is the peptide localizing within the cell; 2) identify cotton cultivars or progenitors with enhanced natural resistance to Aspergillus (A.) flavus infection; 3) determine the mechanism of action of the D4E1 antifungal peptide against A. flavus and other select plant pathogens such as Fusarium verticillioides or Verticillium dahliae; and 4) develop ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) vectors for transformation into cotton or corn to target A. flavus genes involved in growth and/or aflatoxin production.