Synthesis of minus-strand copies of a viral transgene during viral infections of transgenic plants.
Viral transgenes designed to provide resistance to specific plant viruses frequently consist of the coat protein gene and a contiguous 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of viral origin. In many RNA viruses the viral 3'UTR establishes a recognition and initiation site for viral RNA replication. Thus the transgenic transcript may contain a functional virus replication site. Experiments were designed to determine if a challenging virus would recognize this replication site on a nuclear derived transcript and synthesize the complementary RNA. These data demonstrate that upon infection by a virus that recognizes the viral replication site, a full-length complement of the transgenic transcript is produced. In these experiments the replication complex of Brome Mosaic bromovirus recognized the transgenic transcript derived from a Cowpea Chlorotic Mottle bromovirus transgene. The resulting RNA may contribute to RNA recombination events.
Deng
Min
M
Department of Plant Biology and Department of Plant Pathology, Plant Biology Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1312, USA. mindeng@uclink.berkeley.edu
Schneider
William L
WL
Allison
Richard F
RF
D017795:Bromovirus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000821:virology*; D018075:RNA, Complementary / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014779:Virus Replication
D018075:RNA, Complementary; D012367:RNA, Viral