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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Crops Pathology and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #245399
Title: GENETICALLY ENGINEERED VIRUS-RESISTANT PLANTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS

Author
item REDDY, D.V.R. - University Of Hyderabad
item Sudarshana, Mysore
item FUCHS, MARK - Cornell University
item RAO, CHANDRASEKHARA - University Of Hyderabad
item THOTTAPPILLY, GEORGE - University Of Kerala

Submitted to: Advances in Virus Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/31/2009
Publication Date: 1/1/2010
Citation: Reddy, D., Sudarshana, M.R., Fuchs, M., Rao, C.N., Thottappilly, G. 2010. GENETICALLY ENGINEERED VIRUS-RESISTANT PLANTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: CURRENT STATUS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. Advances in Virus Research. 75:185-220.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Plant viruses cause severe crop losses worldwide. Conventional control strategies, such as cultural methods and biocide applications against arthropod, nematode, and plasmodiophorid vectors, have limited success at mitigating the impact of plant viruses. Planting resistant cultivars is the most effective and economical way to control plant virus diseases. Natural sources of resistance have been exploited extensively to develop virus-resistant plants by conventional breeding. Nonconventional methods have also been used successfully to confer virus resistance by transferring primarily virus-derived genes, including viral coat protein, replicase, movement protein, defective interfering RNA and noncoding RNA sequences, into susceptible plants. Non-viral genes (R genes, micro RNAs, ribosome inactivating proteins, protease inhibitors, dsRNAse, RNA modifying enzymes and scFvs) have also been used successfully to engineer resistance to viruses in plants. Very few genetically engineered (GE) virus resistant (VR) crops have been released for cultivation and none is available yet in developing countries. However, a number of economically important GEVR crops, transformed with viral genes are of great interest in developing countries. The major issues confronting the production and deregulation of GEVR crops in developing countries are primarily socio-economic and related to intellectual property rights, biosafety regulatory frameworks, expenditure to generate GE crops and opposition by non-governmental activists. Suggestions for satisfactory resolution of these factors, presumably leading to field tests and deregulation of GEVR crops in developing countries, are given.