TRANSGENIC NICOTIANA-DEBNEYII EXPRESSING VIRAL COAT PROTEIN ARE RESISTANT TO POTATO-VIRUS S INFECTION

The coat protein gene from potato virus S (PVS) was introduced into Nicotiana debneyii by leaf disc transformation using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Transgenic plants expressing the viral coat protein were highly resistant to subsequent infection by the ME strain of PVS as indicated by an absence of symptom development and a lack of accumulation of virus in both the inoculated and upper leaves. As in reported experiments with plants expressing potato virus X coat protein, plants expressing PVS coat protein were also protected from inoculation with PVS RNA. These results provide further evidence that coat protein-mediated protection for these two groups of viruses, which share similar genome organizations, may involve inhibition of some early event in infection other than or in addition to virus uncoating.