title: Strong resistance against Rice grassy stunt virus is induced in transgenic rice plants expressing double-stranded RNA of the viral genes for nucleocapsid or movement proteins as targets for RNA interference.
abstract: Rice grassy stunt virus (RGSV), a member of the genus Tenuivirus, causes significant economic losses in rice production in South, Southeast, and East Asian countries. Growing resistant varieties is the most efficient method to control RGSV; however, suitable resistance genes have not yet been found in natural rice resources. One of the most promising methods to confer resistance against RGSV is the use of RNA interference (RNAi). It is important to target viral genes that play important roles in viral infection and proliferation at an early stage of viral replication. Our recent findings obtained from an RNAi experiment with Rice stripe virus (RSV), a tenuivirus, revealed that the genes for nucleocapsid and movement proteins were appropriate targets for RNAi to confer resistance against RSV. In this study, we transformed rice plants by introducing an RNAi construct of the RGSV genes for the nucelocapsid protein pC5 or movement protein pC6. All progenies from self-fertilized transgenic plants had strong resistance against RGSV infection and did not allow the proliferation of RGSV. Thus, our strategy to target genes for nucleocapsid and movement proteins for conferring viral resistance might be applicable to the plant viruses in the genus Tenuivirus.
authors.affiliation: National Agriculture Research Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ogamino
authors.forename: Akihiro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hiraguri
authors.forename: Eiko
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nakazono-Nagaoka
authors.forename: Tamaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uehara-Ichiki
authors.forename: Masami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Katsumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akutsu
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Omura
authors.forename: Takahide
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sasaya
mesh_terms: D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D019251:Nucleocapsid / Q000235:genetics; D012275:Oryza / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D053830:Plant Viral Movement Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D034622:RNA Interference; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000235:genetics; D029364:Tenuivirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D053830:Plant Viral Movement Proteins; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins