Transgenic plant virus resistance mediated by untranslatable sense RNAs: expression, regulation, and fate of nonessential RNAs

Abstract

Haploid leaf tissue of tobacco cultivars K326 and K149 was transformed with several transgenes containing cDNA of the potato virus Y (PVY) coat protein (CP) open reading frame (ORF). The various transgenes containing the PVY CP ORF sequence produced (1) the expected mRNA and CP product, (2) an mRNA rendered untranslatable by introduction of a stop codon immediately after the initiation codon, or (3) an antisense RNA that was untranslatable as a result of the incorrect orientation of the PVY CP ORF behind the transcriptional promoter. Homozygous doubled haploid (DH) (diploid) plants were generated, and selfed progeny from these plants were examined. Resistance was virus specific, functioning only against PVY. An inverse correlation between transgene-derived PVY transcript steady state levels and resistance was generally noted with lines expressing the untranslatable sense version of the PVY CP ORF. A collection of DH lines, derived from a single transformation event of a common haploid plant and isogenic for the PVY transgenes expressing untranslatable sense RNA, displayed different levels of PVY resistance. Lines with actively transcribed, methylated transgene sequences had low steady state levels of transgene transcript and a virus-resistant phenotype. These results are discussed within the context of sense suppression in plants.