Author/Authors :
Ghanbari Jahromi, Marziea Department of Horticultural Sciences - Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran , Rahnama, Hassan Department of Tissue Culture and Gene Transformation - Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran, Karaj, Iran , Mousavi, Amir Department of Agricultural Biotechnology - National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Tehran, Iran , Safarnejad, Mohammad Reza Department of Plant Viruses - Iranian Research Institute of Plant Protection, Tehran, Iran , Kalatejari, Sepide Department of Horticultural Sciences - Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran , Soheilivand, Saeed Department of Tissue Culture and Gene Transformation - Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran, Karaj, Iran
Abstract :
One of the most efficient mechanisms by which plants protect themselves from invading viruses
is the specific RNA-dependent silencing pathway termed post-transcriptional gene silencing
(PTGS). In this mechanism, resistance to a virus is engineered through the expression of a
segment of the virus genomein transgenic plants. Potato VirusY (PVY) is one of the most
damaging viruses of potato, infecting most cultivars and causing significant yield losses
throughout the world. The present study was performed to compare the efficiency of three
construct containing different regions of 3′UTR (UR) and coat protein (CP) against PVY
infection. Expression of homologous hairpin RNA to PVY in potato plant was carried out by
transient gene expression of constructs with agro-infiltration followed by mechanical viral
infection. Results showed that successful production of siRNAs confer resistance to two PVY
strain. Comparison between transiently expressed constructs indicated that applying CP+UR
PVY hairpin RNA was the most efficient RNAi construct to confer resistance. Resistance was
found to have taken the form of immunity, since no viral particle could be detected in the upper
leaves as shown by ELISA assay and Northern hybridizations. To the best of our knowledge,
this is the first report on the application of 3'non-coding region of PVY in conferring complete
resistance against virus in potato.
