scholarly journals Virus Synergy in Transgenic Plants

Author(s):  
Peter Palukaitis ◽  
Amit Gal-On ◽  
Milton Zaitlin ◽  
Victor Gaba

Transgenic plants expressing viral genes offer novel means of engendering resistance to those viruses. However, some viruses interact synergistically with other viruses and it is now known that transgenic plants expressing particular genes of one virus may also mediate synergy with a second virus. Thus, our specific objectives were to (1) determine if transgenic plants resistant to one virus showed synergy with another virus; (2) determine what viral sequences were essential for synergy; and (3) determine whether one of more mechanisms were involved i synergy. This project would also enable an evaluation of the risks of synergism associated with the use of such transgenic plants. The conclusion deriving from this project are as follows: - There is more than one mechanism of synergy. - The CMV 2b gene is required for synergistic interactions. - Synergy between a potyvirus and CMV can break natural resistance limiting CMV movement. - Synergy operates at two levels - increase in virus accumulation and increase in pathology - independently of each other. - Various sequences of CMV can interact with the host to alter pathogenicity and affect virus accumulation. - The effect of synergy on CMV satellite RNA accumulatio varies in different systems. - The HC-Pro gene may only function in host plant species to induce synergy. - The HC-Pro is a host range determinant of potyviruses. - Transgenic plants expressing some viral sequences showed synergy with one or more viruses. Transgenic plants expressing CMV RNA 1, PVY NIb and the TMV 30K gene all showed synergy with at least one unrelated virus. - Transgenic plants expressing some viral sequences showed interference with the infection of unrelated viruses. Transgenic plants expressing the TMV 30K, 54K and 126K genes, the PVY NIb gene, or the CMV 3a gene all showed some level of interference with the accumulation (and in some cases the pathology) of unrelated viruses. From our observations, there are agricultural implications to the above conclusions. It is apparent that before they are released commercially, transgenic plants expressing viral sequences for resistance to one virus need to be evaluated fro two properties: - Synergism to unrelated viruses that infect the same plant. Most of these evaluations can be made in the greenhouse, and many can be predicted from the known literature of viruses known to interact with each other. In other cases, where transgenic plants are being generated from new plant species, the main corresponding viruses from the same known interacting genera (e.g., potexviruses and cucumoviruses, potyviruses and cucumoviruses, tobamoviruses and potexviruses, etc.) should be evaluated. - Inhibition or enhancement of other resistance genes. Although it is unlikely that plants to be released would be transformed with HC-Pro or 2b genes, there may be other viral genes that can affect the expression of plant genes encoding resistance to other pathogens. Therefore, transgenic plants expressing viral genes to engender pathogen-derived resistance should be evaluated against a spectrum of other pathogens, to determine whether those resistance activities are still present, have been lost, or have been enhanced!

1993 ◽  
Vol 342 (1301) ◽  
pp. 197-201 ◽  

A reliable system for transformation and regeneration of rice protoplasts yielding fertile transgenic plants has been established. After co-electroporation of DNAs encoding a selectable marker and the gene of interest, protoplasts are regenerated to yield fertile plants. To date more than 70 different genes of interest have been successfully introduced and their patterns of expression are being studied. As in the case of dicot plants transformed by the Ti-plasm id vector approach, integration and expression appear to be stable in the transgenic monocots over several generations. Detailed com parative studies on gene expression in rice are underway using promoters for triosephosphate isomerase, a ubiquitously expressed gene encoding a cytosolic enzyme vital in the glycolytic cycle, two genes encoding members of the cyclophilin family, peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans -isomerases that are abundant in meristematic regions and are thought to participate in the correct folding of nascent proteins, and a gene encoding a tissue (root)- specific protein. Initial analyses suggest that the spatial expression of these genes in transgenic plants, using GUS reporter constructs, appears to be very sensitive to the nature of the 3' flanking region present in the gene construct. Constructs containing a coding region for arcelin, a bean seed protein with putative anti-insecticidal properties, and others containing viral sequences that may provide novel approaches for protection against tungro and other viral infections have been introduced into rice plants.


Viruses ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1304
Author(s):  
Nicolás Bejerman ◽  
Ralf G. Dietzgen ◽  
Humberto Debat

Rhabdoviruses infect a large number of plant species and cause significant crop diseases. They have a negative-sense, single-stranded unsegmented or bisegmented RNA genome. The number of plant-associated rhabdovirid sequences has grown in the last few years in concert with the extensive use of high-throughput sequencing platforms. Here, we report the discovery of 27 novel rhabdovirus genomes associated with 25 different host plant species and one insect, which were hidden in public databases. These viral sequences were identified through homology searches in more than 3000 plant and insect transcriptomes from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Sequence Read Archive (SRA) using known plant rhabdovirus sequences as the query. The identification, assembly and curation of raw SRA reads resulted in sixteen viral genome sequences with full-length coding regions and ten partial genomes. Highlights of the obtained sequences include viruses with unique and novel genome organizations among known plant rhabdoviruses. Phylogenetic analysis showed that thirteen of the novel viruses were related to cytorhabdoviruses, one to alphanucleorhabdoviruses, five to betanucleorhabdoviruses, one to dichorhaviruses and seven to varicosaviruses. These findings resulted in the most complete phylogeny of plant rhabdoviruses to date and shed new light on the phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary landscape of this group of plant viruses. Furthermore, this study provided additional evidence for the complexity and diversity of plant rhabdovirus genomes and demonstrated that analyzing SRA public data provides an invaluable tool to accelerate virus discovery, gain evolutionary insights and refine virus taxonomy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai L Ng ◽  
Erika J Olson ◽  
Tae Yeon Yoo ◽  
H. Sloane Weiss ◽  
Yukiye Koide ◽  
...  

Suppression of the host innate immune response is a critical aspect of viral replication. Upon infection, viruses may introduce one or more proteins that inhibit key immune pathways, such as the type I interferon pathway. However, the ability to predict and evaluate viral protein bioactivity on targeted pathways remains challenging and is typically done on a single virus/gene basis. Here, we present a medium-throughput high-content cell-based assay to reveal the immunosuppressive effects of viral proteins. To test the predictive power of our approach, we developed a library of 800 genes encoding known, predicted, and uncharacterized human viral genes. We find that previously known immune suppressors from numerous viral families such as Picornaviridae and Flaviviridae recorded positive responses. These include a number of viral proteases for which we further confirmed that innate immune suppression depends on protease activity. A class of predicted inhibitors encoded by Rhabdoviridae viruses was demonstrated to block nuclear transport, and several previously uncharacterized proteins from uncultivated viruses were shown to inhibit nuclear transport of the transcription factors NF-kB and IRF3. We propose that this pathway-based assay, together with early sequencing, gene synthesis, and viral infection studies, could partly serve as the basis for rapid in vitro characterization of novel viral proteins.


2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 720-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Rajsz ◽  
Anna Warzybok ◽  
Magdalena Migocka

AbstractFull-size members of the ABCG (ATP-binding cassette, subfamily G) subfamily of ABC transporters have been found only in plants and fungi. The plant genes encoding full-size ABCGs identified so far appeared to be differentially regulated under various environmental constraints, plant growth regulators, and microbial elicitors, indicating a broad functional role of these proteins in plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress. Nevertheless, the structure and physiological function of full-size ABCGs in many plant species are still unknown. We have recently identified 16 genes encoding full-size ABCG proteins in cucumber and found that the transcripts of two of them, CsABCG36 (CsPDR8) and CsABCG40 (CsPDR12), are most abundant in roots and are significantly affected by phytohormones and auxin herbicide. In this study, we analyzed the structure and phylogeny of all the full-size cucumber ABCG transporters and studied the organ expression profiles of the remaining 14 CsABCG genes. In addition, we investigated the effect of different plant growth regulators and the diterpene sclareolide on CsABCG expression in cucumber roots. Until now, the full-size plant ABCG transporters have been grouped into five different clusters. The new phylogenetic analysis of full-size ABCGs from model plants and cucumber clustered these proteins into six different subgroups. Interestingly, the expression profiles of cucumber ABCG genes assigned to the same clusters were not correlated, suggesting functional diversification or different regulatory mechanisms of the full-size cucumber ABCG proteins.


2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 454
Author(s):  
Jian Li ◽  
Tian Chen ◽  
Fengzhen Huang ◽  
Penghui Dai ◽  
Fuxiang Cao ◽  
...  

Serious seed abortion of dove tree (Davidia involucrate Baill.) is one of the critical factors leading to the low fecundity of this species. Seed abortion is a complicated process and various factors have been verified to synergistically determine the fate of seeds. To reveal the mechanism of seed abortion in D. involucrata, we performed transcriptome analysis in normal and abortive seeds of D. involucrata. According to the transcriptome data, we noticed that most of the genes encoding a MYB transcription factor were predominantly expressed in abortive seeds. Among these, a gene named DiMYB1 was selected and its function was validated in this study. Overexpression of DiMYB1 resulted in obviously reduced viability of transgenic seeds and seedlings, and caused a significantly higher seed abortion rate. The vegetative growth of transgenic plants was hindered, resulting in an earlier flowering time. In addition, colour changes occurred in transgenic plants. Some transgenic sprouts, stems and pods appeared purple instead of green in colour. Our finding demonstrated that DiMYB1 participates in multiple plant developmental processes, especially in seed development in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh., which indicated the similar role of this gene in D. involucrata.


Viruses ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 345 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charith Raj Adkar-Purushothama ◽  
Jean-Pierre Perreault

To date, two plant genes encoding RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRs) that play major roles in the defense against RNA viruses have been identified: (i) RdR1, which is responsible for the viral small RNAs (vsRNAs) found in virus-infected plants, and, (ii) RdR6, which acts as a surrogate in the absence of RdR1. In this study, the role of RdR6 in the defense against viroid infection was examined by knock-down of RdR6 followed by potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) infection. The suppression of RdR6 expression increased the plant’s growth, as was illustrated by the plant’s increased height. PSTVd infection of RdR6 compromised plants resulted in an approximately three-fold increase in the accumulation of viroid RNA as compared to that seen in control plants. Additionally, RNA gel blot assay revealed an increase in the number of viroids derived small RNAs in RdR6 suppressed plants as compared to control plants. These data provide a direct correlation between RdR6 and viroid accumulation and indicate the role of RDR6 in the plant’s susceptibility to viroid infection.


2009 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Poirel ◽  
Thierry Naas ◽  
Patrice Nordmann

ABSTRACT Class D β-lactamase-mediated resistance to β-lactams has been increasingly reported during the last decade. Those enzymes also known as oxacillinases or OXAs are widely distributed among Gram negatives. Genes encoding class D β-lactamases are known to be intrinsic in many Gram-negative rods, including Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, but play a minor role in natural resistance phenotypes. The OXAs (ca. 150 variants reported so far) are characterized by an important genetic diversity and a great heterogeneity in terms of β-lactam hydrolysis spectrum. The acquired OXAs possess either a narrow spectrum or an expanded spectrum of hydrolysis, including carbapenems in several instances. Acquired class D β-lactamase genes are mostly associated to class 1 integron or to insertion sequences.


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