title: Induction of resistance to potato virus Y strain NTN in potato plants through RNAi.
abstract: Potato viruses cause enormous economic loss in agriculture production. Potatoes can be infected by a number of different viruses that affect negatively the harvest and the tuber quality. Direct and effective drugs against plant virus diseases are still not available and control is only applied as agricultural measures and pesticides against virus vectors. Potato virus Y (PVY) is transmitted by aphids in non-persistent manner and on that account using insecticides to prevent spread of the infection is useless. Breeding of resistant plant cultivars proved to be not always a solution of the problem because of the fast evolution of the virus strains and the constantly growing group of recombinants. In this study, we have proposed a new way of controlling the virus by blocking replication and transmission through the plant by RNAi-based vaccination of potato seedlings with specific to viral HC-Pro gene siRNAs. Thus, PVY replication is decreased without altering the valuable qualities of the sensitive to the virus potato cultivars like Agria.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Protection, Institute of Soil Science, Agro Technologies and Plant Protection "N. Pushkarov" , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Nikolay
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Petrov
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Protection, Institute of Soil Science, Agro Technologies and Plant Protection "N. Pushkarov" , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Mariya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stoyanova
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Forestry , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Rayna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Andonova
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Breeding of Agricultural Crops, Faculty of Agronomy, University of Forestry , Sofia , Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Atanaska
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teneva
keywords: PVYNTN; RNAi; potatoes