title: Using small RNA sequences to diagnose, sequence, and investigate the infectivity characteristics of vegetable-infecting viruses.
abstract: In a virus-infected plant, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) corresponding to the viral genome form a large proportion of the small RNA population. It is possible to reassemble significant portions of the virus sequence from overlapping siRNA sequences and use these to identify the virus. We tested this technique with a resistance-breaking and a non-resistance-breaking strain of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). We were able to assemble contigs covering 99% of the genomes of both viruses. The abundance of TSWV siRNAs allowed us to detect TSWV at early time points before the onset of symptoms, at levels too low for conventional detection. Combining traditional and bioinformatic detection methods, we also measured how replication of the resistance-breaking strain differed from the non-resistance-breaking strain in susceptible and resistant tomato varieties. We repeated this technique in identification of a squash-infecting geminivirus and also used it to identify an unspecified tospovirus.
authors: Monsanto Company, Calgene Campus, Davis, CA, USA. charles.hagen@monsanto.com
authors: Charles
authors: C
authors: Hagen
authors: Alessandra
authors: A
authors: Frizzi
authors: John
authors: J
authors: Kao
authors: Lijie
authors: L
authors: Jia
authors: Mingya
authors: M
authors: Huang
authors: Yuanji
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Shihshieh
authors: S
authors: Huang
mesh_terms: D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D034741:RNA, Small Interfering / Q000235:genetics*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D017865:Tospovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology*; D014675:Vegetables / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D034741:RNA, Small Interfering; D012367:RNA, Viral