title: Dose-dependent RNAi-mediated geminivirus resistance in the tropical root crop cassava.
abstract: Cassava mosaic disease is a major constraint for cassava production in Africa, resulting in significant economic losses. We have engineered transgenic cassava with resistance to African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV), by expressing ACMV AC1-homologous hairpin double-strand RNAs. Transgenic cassava lines with high levels of AC1-homologous small RNAs have ACMV immunity with increasing viral load and different inoculation methods. We report a correlation between the expression of the AC1-homologous small RNAs and the ACMV resistance of the transgenic cassava lines. Characterization of the small RNAs revealed that only some of the hairpin-derived small RNAs fall into currently known small interfering RNA classes in plants. The method is scalable to stacking by targeting multiple virus isolates with additional hairpins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Institute of Plant Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland. hvanderschuren@ethz.ch
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vanderschuren
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alder
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Wilhelm
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Gruissem
mesh_terms: D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017791:Geminiviridae / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D002365:Manihot / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000821:virology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000821:virology; D010957:Plasmids; D034622:RNA Interference; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000378:metabolism; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000378:metabolism; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C095136:AC1 protein, geminivirus; D004279:DNA, Viral; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D014764:Viral Proteins