title: Infection of non-host model plant species with the narrow-host-range Cacao swollen shoot virus.
abstract: Cacao swollen shoot virus (CSSV) is a major pathogen of cacao (Theobroma cacao) in Africa, and long-standing efforts to limit its spread by the culling of infected trees have had very limited success. CSSV is a particularly difficult virus to study, as it has a very narrow host range, limited to several tropical tree species. Furthermore, the virus is not mechanically transmissible, and its insect vector can only be used with difficulty. Thus, the only efficient means to infect cacao plants that have been experimentally described so far are by particle bombardment or the agroinoculation of cacao plants with an infectious clone. We have genetically transformed three non-host species with an infectious form of the CSSV genome: two experimental hosts widely used in plant virology (Nicotiana tabacum and N. benthamiana) and the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. In transformed plants of all three species, the CSSV genome was able to replicate, and, in tobacco, CSSV particles could be observed by immunosorbent electron microscopy, demonstrating that the complete virus cycle could be completed in a non-host plant. These results will greatly facilitate the preliminary testing of CSSV control strategies using plants that are easy to raise and to transform genetically.
authors.affiliation: Plant Virology Group, ICGEB Biosafety Outstation, Ca' Tron di Roncade, 31056, Italy.
authors.forename: Arianna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Friscina
authors.affiliation: Plant Virology Group, ICGEB Biosafety Outstation, Ca' Tron di Roncade, 31056, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chiappetta
authors.affiliation: Station de Pathologie Végétale UR407, BP 94, F-84143, Montfavet cedex, France.
authors.forename: Mireille
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jacquemond
authors.affiliation: Plant Virology Group, ICGEB Biosafety Outstation, Ca' Tron di Roncade, 31056, Italy.|Station de Pathologie Végétale UR407, BP 94, F-84143, Montfavet cedex, France.|Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, INRA, AgroParisTech, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, 78026, Versailles cedex, France.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tepfer
mesh_terms: D019195:Badnavirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D002099:Cacao / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D016679:Genome, Viral; D058507:Host Specificity; D008954:Models, Biological; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D018520:Plant Shoots / Q000821:virology*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity; D014026:Nicotiana / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral
keywords: Badnavirus; Cacao swollen shoot virus; cacao; pararetrovirus; virus replication