More data about this group.
Last database update for these data: 2008-10-14 - Data extracted on 2009-04-14 from the database.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Viroid Resistance |
| Participants | Michael Wassenegger (Leader) Nora Schwind Michèle Zwiebel |
| Period | 2006 - 2009 |
| Description | Because of their highly ordered structure, mature viroid RNA molecules were assumed to be resistant to degradation by RNA interference (RNAi). Here we report that a transgenic tomato plant line expressing a hairpin construct derived from Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) sequences exhibited resistance to PSTVd infection. This was correlated with the high level accumulation of hairpin-derived short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) in the plant. Thus, in contrast to small RNAs produced in PSTVd-infected non-transgenic plants (srPSTVds), these hairpin-derived siRNAs (hp-siRNAs) appeared to efficiently target the mature viroid RNA. Genomic mapping of the hp-siRNAs revealed an unequal distribution of 21 and 24 nt siRNAs of both (+)- and (-)-strand polarities along the PSTVd genome. These data suggest that RNAi can be employed to engineer plants for viroid resistance, as has been well established for viruses. |
| Viruses | Potato spindle tuber viroid |
| Plants | Lycopersicon esculentum |
| Fundings | in house funding |