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Tobacco Plants Transformed with a Modified Coat Protein of Tomato Mottle Begomovirus Show Resistance to Virus Infection

First and second authors: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, 5007 60th Street E., Bradenton 34203-9324; and third and fourth authors: Department of Plant Pathology, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611-0680

Tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum ‘Xanthi’) were transformed with a binary vector containing the coat protein gene of tomato mottle begomo-virus (ToMoV) modified by the deletion of 30 nucleotides in the 5′ end. The R₁ generation was screened for resistance to ToMoV by inoculation with viruliferous whiteflies. Fifteen days after inoculation, symptom development was recorded weekly for up to 120 days using a visual scale, and ToMoV infection was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The response to high inoculation levels of ToMoV varied and ranged from susceptibility to immunity. The transgene transcript was detected by northern blot analysis; however, the transgene product could not be detected by protein blot analysis using antisera reactive with ToMoV coat protein. The lack of detection of the transgene product in resistant plants suggests that it is not involved in eliciting the resistance response and that resistance may be mediated by the transgene transcript.

Additional keywords: Bemisia tabaci, pathogen-derived resistance.