Plant viruses and new perspectives in cross-protection.
Cross-protection in plants is the phenomenon whereby a plant preinoculated with a mild virus strain becomes resistant to subsequent inoculation by a related severe strain. It has been used on a large scale in cases where no resistant plants are available. Although several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the molecular mechanism underlying cross-protection, no single hypothesis can account for all the data obtained. Recently, a phenomenon akin to cross-protection has been achieved in transformed plants harboring the cDNA of a part of a viral RNA genome. These results obtained by genetic engineering raise new hopes for obtaining plants resistant to virus infection.
D005818:Genetic Engineering; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*