Characterization of a defective interfering RNA that contains a mosaic of a plant viral genome. Final report
Our lab was the first to describe and characterize a defective interfering RNA (DI RNAs or DIs) in association with a small RNA plant virus. The features of the DIs that we discovered in infections of tomato bushy stunt virus were compatible with the properties of DIs identified in many animal virus infections. Animal virologists have generally recognized the importance of studying DIs because they are invaluable tools for identifying cis-acting sequences important in virus multiplication and because they offer the opportunity to elucidate mechanisms involved in viral persistence and disease attenuation. Hence our discovery offered a comparably valuable tool for use in plant virus studies for the first time. Since then, we have also discovered the second example of plant viral DI RNAs associated with turnip crinkle virus (TCV), a virus structurally related to TBSV. We proposed a thorough characterization of this unique class of symptom modulating RNAs with the overall objective of identifying viral RNA nucleotide, sequences involved in such fundamental processes as virus replication and encapsidation as well as the degree of symptom expression resulting from the viral-DI-host interaction. The proposed research focused on the molecular characterization of the DI RNAs and the helper virus. We had demonstrated that the DIs were collinear deletion mutants of the genome of a cherry strain of tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV). We had also shown that these low molecular weight RNAs interfered with the helper plant virus and modulated disease expression by preventing the development of a lethal necrotic disease in susceptible host plants. We also suggested that by exploring the mechanisms associated with the symptom attenuation effect, we might be able to devise novel strategies useful for engineering viral disease resistance.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Plant Pathology
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-88ER13908
- OSTI ID:
- 10151304
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/13908-T1; ON: DE92015221
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: [1991]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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