Analysis of the Proteins in the Leaves of Transgenic Tobacco Plants Expressing Double-Stranded RNA Upon Viral Infection (original) (raw)

The Occurrence of CMV-Specific Short RNAs in Transgenic Tobacco Expressing Virus-Derived Double-Stranded RNA is Indicative of Resistance to the Virus

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions, 2002

Expression or introduction of double-stranded (ds)RNA in eukaryotic cells can trigger sequence-specific gene silencing of transgenes, endogenes, and viruses. Transgenic plants producing dsRNAs with homology to viral sequences are likely to exhibit pathogen-derived resistance to the virus. Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), a very widespread virus with over 1,000 host species, has the natural ability to suppress silencing in order to establish infection. Here, we report the generation of transgenic tobacco lines, where a DNA transgene containing an inverted repeat of CMV cDNA had been introduced. Expression of this DNA construct delivered an RNA transcript that is able to form an intramolecular double strand. Transgenic plants were challenged with CMV. Three categories of plants could be discriminated: susceptible plants, which typically reacted with milder symptoms than the wild-type control; a "recovery" phenotype, in which newly emerging leaves were free of symptoms; and plants that showed complete resistance. Northern analysis showed that the expression of CMV dsRNA caused, in some transgenic lines, the generation of short RNAs characteristic of posttranscriptional gene silencing. Those lines were CMV resistant. The correlation between the detection of short RNAs and virus resistance provides a molecular marker that makes it possible to predict success in attempts to engineer virus resistance by dsRNA.

Synthesis of (-)-strand RNA from the 3' untranslated region of plant viral genomes expressed in transgenic plants upon infection with related viruses

The Journal of general virology, 2000

When expressed in transgenic tobacco plants, transgene mRNA that includes the 3' untranslated region (3' UTR) of Lettuce mosaic virus served as template for synthesis of complementary (-)-strand RNA following an infection by Tobacco etch virus, Tobacco vein mottle virus or Pepper mottle virus, but not when infected with Cucumber mosaic virus. Deletion of the 3' UTR from the transgene abolished the synthesis of (-)-strand transcripts. Similar results were obtained in transgenic tobacco plants expressing mRNA that includes the RNA3 3' UTR of Cucumber mosaic virus when infected with Tomato aspermy virus. These results show that the viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of several potyviruses and Tomato aspermy virus have the ability to recognize heterologous 3' UTRs when included in transgene mRNAs, and to use them as transcription promoters.

Plants transformed with a tobacco mosaic virus nonstructural gene sequence are resistant to the virus

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1990

Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi nn plants were transformed with nucleotides 3472-4916 of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) strain U1. This sequence contains all but the three 3' terminal nucleotides ofthe TMV 54-kDa gene, which encodes a putative component of the replicase complex. These plants were resistant to infection when challenged with either TMV U1 virions or TMV U1 RNA at concentrations of up to 500 ,ug/ml or 300 ,ug/ml, respectively, the highest concentrations tested. Resistance was also exhibited when plants were inoculated at 100 ,g/ml with the closely related TMV mutant YSI/1 but was not shown in plants challenged at the same concentrations with the more distantly related TMV strains U2 or L or cucumber mosaic virus. Although the copy number of the 54-kDa gene sequence varied in individual transformants from 1 to S5, the level of resistance in plants was not dependent on the number of copies of the 54-kDa gene sequence integrated. The transformed plants accumulated a 54-kDa gene sequencespecific RNA transcript of the expected size, but no protein product was detected.

Induction of a Highly Specific Antiviral State in Transgenic Plants: Implications for Regulation of Gene Expression and Virus Resistance

The Plant Cell, 1993

Transgenic tobacco plants expressing either a full-length form of the tobacco etch virus (TEV) coat protein or a form truncated at the N terminus of the TEV coat protein were initially susceptible to TEV infection, and typlcal systemic symptoms developed. However, 3 to 5 weeks after a TEV infection was established, transgenlc plants "recovered" from the TEV infection, and new stem and leaf tissue emerged symptom and virus free. A TEV-resistant state was induced ln the recovered tissue. The resistance was virus speclflc. Recovered plant tissue could not be lnfected wlth TEV, but was susceptlble to the closely related virus, potato virus Y. The resistance phenotype was functional at the slngle-cell leve1 because protoplasts from recovered transgenic tissue did not support TEV repllcation. Surprlslngly, steady state transgene mRNA levels in recovered tissue were 12-to 22-fold less than transgene mRNA levels in uninoculated transgenic tissue of the same developmental stage. However, nuclear run-off studles suggested that transgene transcription rates in recovered and uninoculated plants were similar. We propose that the resistant state and reduced steady state levels of transgene transcript accumulation are mediated at the cellular leve1 by a cytoplasmic actlvity that targets speclfic RNA sequences for inactlvation.

Expression of an antisense viral gene in transgenic tobacco confers resistance to the DNA virus tomato golden mosaic virus

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1991

Transgenic tobacco plants carrying a genetic cassette including an antisense DNA sequence of the virally encoded ALI gene of the geminivirus tomato golden mosaic virus (TGMV) were constructed; ALI encodes a protein absolutely required for TGMV DNA replication. These genetic cassettes also contained, on the same transcription unit, a gene encoding hygromycin resistance, which allowed selection for concomitant expression of the antisense gene. In transgenic

Antisense RNA Inhibition of β-Glucuronidase Gene Expression in Transgenic Tobacco can be Transiently Overcome Using a Heat-Inducible β-Glucuronidase Gene Construct

Nature Biotechnology, 1990

Antisense RNA was used to specifically inhibit the expression of a GUS gene introduced in a transgenic plant. A tobacco transformant containing a single intact copy of the GUS gene and showing relatively high constitutive levels of GUS activity (GUS +) was re-transformed with an Agrobacterium Ti-derived binary vector containing an antisense version of this reporter gene. The sense and antisense GUS genes were each under the regulation of the CaMV 35 S promoter. Re-transformed plants contained 1-5 copies of the antisense construct and all showed a greater than 9 0~ reduction in GUS activity relative to the original GUS + plant. This reduction in GUS activity correlated closely with the levels of GUS enzyme and steady state GUS m R N A observed in these plants. The relatively low levels of sense and antisense GUS transcripts found in the re-transformed plants may indicate a rapid degradation of the RNA : RNA duplex in the cell.

Transgenic Plant Virus Resistance Mediated by Untranslatable Sense RNAs: Expression, Regulation, and Fate of Nonessential RNAs

The Plant Cell

Haploid leaf tissue of tobacco cultivars K326 and K149 was transformed with several transgenes containing cDNA of the potato virus Y (PVY) coat protein (CP) open reading frame (ORF). The various transgenes containing the PVY CP ORF sequence produced (1) the expected mRNA and CP product, (2) an mRNA rendered untranslatable by introduction of a stop codon immediately after the initiation codon, or (3) an antisense RNA that was untranslatable as a result of the incorrect orientation of the PVY CP ORF behind the transcriptional promoter. Homozygous doubled haploid (DH) (diploid) plants were generated, and selfed progeny from these plants were examined. Resistance was virus specific, functioning only against PVY. An inverse correlation between transgene-derived PVY transcript steady state levels and resistance was generally noted with lines expressing the untranslatable sense version of the PVY CP ORF. A collection of DH lines, derived from a single transformation event of a common haplo...

Factors affecting efficient infection of tobacco with in vitro RNA transcripts from cloned cDNAs of satellite tobacco mosaic virus

Virology, 1990

Recombinant cDNA clones of the complete satellite tobacco mosaic virus (STMV) genome (1059 ribonucleotides) were constructed with unique Xbal and HindIll or Pstl restriction sites engineered at the 5' and 3' termini, respectively. The genome-length cDNAs were positioned downstream of T7 or SP6 phage promoters. Genome-sense RNAs transcribed in vitro from the T7 promoter were biologically active, while negative-sense RNAs transcribed in vitro from the SP6 promoter were not. Constructs that were identical to STMV and two other constructs in which there were two or six specific nucleotide differences in the 3' noncoding region yielded RNAs that were infectious. Sequence analysis of the progeny RNA derived from infections with transcripts containing nucleotide differences between nucleotides 682 and 753 revealed that these changes in sequence were maintained. In contrast, differences in the nucleotide sequence between nucleotides 989 and 1059 were not maintained in progeny RNA; one mutant reverted to the wild-type sequence, and the other generated a new sequence during infection. o 199oAcademic PWSS, IN.

Promoters for pregenomic RNA of banana streak badnavirus are active for transgene expression in monocot and dicot plants

Plant Molecular Biology, 2001

Two putative promoters from Australian banana streak badnavirus (BSV) isolates were analysed for activity in different plant species. In transient expression systems the My (2105 bp) and Cv (1322 bp) fragments were both shown to have promoter activity in a wide range of plant species including monocots (maize, barley, banana, millet, wheat, sorghum), dicots (tobacco, canola, sunflower, Nicotiana benthamiana, tipu tree), gymnosperm (Pinus radiata) and fern (Nephrolepis cordifolia). Evaluation of the My and Cv promoters in transgenic sugarcane, banana and tobacco plants demonstrated that these promoters could drive high-level expression of either the green fluorescent protein (GFP) or the β-glucuronidase (GUS) reporter gene (uidA) in vegetative plant cells. In transgenic sugarcane plants harbouring the Cv promoter, GFP expression levels were comparable or higher (up to 1.06% of total soluble leaf protein as GFP) than those of plants containing the maize ubiquitin promoter (up to 0.34% of total soluble leaf protein). GUS activities in transgenic in vitro-grown banana plants containing the My promoter were up to seven-fold stronger in leaf tissue and up to four-fold stronger in root and corm tissue than in plants harbouring the maize ubiquitin promoter. The Cv promoter showed activities that were similar to the maize ubiquitin promoter in in vitro-grown banana plants, but was significantly reduced in larger glasshouse-grown plants. In transgenic in vitro-grown tobacco plants, the My promoter reached activities close to those of the 35S promoter of cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), while the Cv promoter was about half as active as the CaMV 35S promoter. The BSV promoters for pregenomic RNA represent useful tools for the high-level expression of foreign genes in transgenic monocots.