Author
Submitted to: American Phytopathological Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/10/2002 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Plant diseases are an important component of agricultural systems that affect crop yield and quality, and the development of improved disease control strategies is a continuing and long-term goal of our laboratory. Viral-based vectors are being engineered for the rapid evaluation of plant gene function in pathogen/host interactions, and for the identification of sequence motifs that can be used to enhance or target gene expression. For example, a Potato virus X-based vector delivery system is being used to dissect individual domain structures of potato spindle tuber viroid in order to locate precise nuclear-targeting motifs. Peptide vaccines and improved diagnostic reagents for diseases of livestock and poultry are also being developed by expressing fusion proteins with plant viral capsids. The successful outcome of these applications of viral-based technology will lead to the development of novel disease control strategies and new tools for biotechnology. |