title: Recombinant-antibody-mediated resistance against Tomato yellow leaf curl virus in Nicotiana benthamiana.
abstract: Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a geminivirus species whose members cause severe crop losses in the tropics and subtropics. We report the expression of a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibody that protected Nicotiana benthamiana plants from a prevalent Iranian isolate of the virus (TYLCV-Ir). Two recombinant antibodies (scFv-ScRep1 and scFv-ScRep2) interacting with the multifunctional replication initiator protein (Rep) were obtained from phage display libraries and expressed in plants, both as stand-alone proteins and as N-terminal GFP fusions. Initial results indicated that both scFvs and both fusions accumulated to a detectable level in the cytosol and nucleus of plant cells. Transgenic plants challenged with TYLCV-Ir showed that the scFv-ScRep1, but more so the fusion proteins, were able to suppress TYLCV-Ir replication. These results show that expression of a scFv-ScRep1-GFP fusion protein can attenuate viral DNA replication and prevent the development of disease symptoms. The present article describes the first successful application of a recombinant antibody-mediated resistance approach against a plant DNA virus.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (Biology VII), RWTH Aachen University, Worringerweg 1, 52074, Aachen, Germany. mrsafarnejad@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Safarnejad
authors.forename: Rainer
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Commandeur
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology*; D053839:Begomovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000737:chemistry; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000737:chemistry; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007492:Iran; D019151:Peptide Library; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D019151:Peptide Library