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Title: ALTERNATIVELY SPLICED N RESISTANCE GENE TRANSCRIPTS: THEIR POSSIBLE ROLE INTOBACCO MOSAIC VIRUS RESISTANCE

Author
item Baker, Barbara
item DINESH-KUMAR, S - PGEC, ALBANY, CA

Submitted to: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2000
Publication Date: 2/15/2000
Citation: Baker, B.J., Dinesh-Kumar, S.P. 2000. Alternatively spliced N resistance gene transcripts: Their possible role in tobacco mosaic virus resistance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 97(4):1908-1913.

Interpretive Summary: The N gene, a member of the Toll-IL-1 homology region-nucleotide binding site-leucine-rich repeat region (LRR) class of plant resistance genes, encodes two transcripts, N-S and N-L, via alternative splicing of the alternative exon present in the intron III. These results suggest that both N transcripts and presumably their encoded protein products are necessary to confer complete resistance to TMV.

Technical Abstract: The N gene, a member of the Toll-IL-1 homology region-nucleotide binding site-leucine-rich repeat region (LRR) class of plant resistance genes, encodes two transcripts, N-S and N-L, via alternative splicing of the alternative exon present in the intron III. The N-S transcript, predicted to encode the full-length N protein containing the Toll-IL-1 homology region, nucleotide binding site, and LRR, is more prevalent before and for 3 hr after tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection. The N-L transcript, predicted to encode a truncated N protein (N-tr) lacking 13 of the 14 repeats of the LRR, is more prevalent 4-8 hr after TMV infection. Plants harboring a cDNA-N-S transgene, capable of encoding an N protein but not an N-tr protein, fail to exhibit complete resistance to TMV. Transgenic plants containing a cDNA-N-S-bearing intron III and containing 3' N-genomic sequences, encoding both N-S and N-L transcripts, exhibit complete resistance to TMV, These results suggest that both N transcripts and presumably their encoded protein products are necessary to confer complete resistance to TMV.