title: A new approach for weed control in a cucurbit field employing an attenuated potyvirus-vector for herbicide resistance.
abstract: Expression of bar, a phosphinothricin acetyltransferase, in plant tissues, leads to resistance of these plants to glufosinate ammonium based herbicides. We have created a bar expressing, attenuated zucchini yellow mosaic potyvirus-vector, AGII-Bar, to enable herbicide use in cucurbit fields. The parental vector, ZYMV-AGII, has been rendered environmentally safe by both disease-symptom attenuation and aphid-assisted virus transmission abolishment. The recombinant AGII-Bar virus-encoding cDNA, when inoculated on diverse cucurbits was highly infectious, accumulated to similar levels as AGII, and elicited attenuated AGII-like symptoms. Potted cucurbits inoculated with AGII-Bar became herbicide resistant about a week post-inoculation. Herbicide resistance was sustained in squash over a period of at least 26 days and for at least 60 days in cucumber grown in a net-house under commercial conditions. To test the applicability of AGII-Bar use in a weed-infested field, a controlled experiment including more than 450 plants inoculated with this construct, was performed. Different dosages of glufosinate ammonium were sprayed, 2 weeks after planting, on the foliage of melons, cucumbers, squash, and watermelons. AGII-Bar provided protection to all inoculated plants, of every variety tested, at each dosage applied, including the highest doses that totally eradicated weeds. This study demonstrates that AGII-Bar can be utilized to facilitate weed control in cucurbits and exemplifies the practical potential of attenuated virus-vector use in agriculture.
authors.affiliation: ViroGene Ltd., Har-Hotzvim, PO Box 45010, Jerusalem 91045, Israel.
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Shiboleth
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arazi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gal-On
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000379:methods*; D000613:Aminobutyrates / Q000494:pharmacology; D028464:Cucurbita / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006540:Herbicides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017800:Potyvirus / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000613:Aminobutyrates; D006540:Herbicides; C003121:phosphinothricin