Terpenoid phytoalexins function as defense compound against a broad spectrum of pathogens and pests in the plant kingdom. However, the role of phytoalexin in antiviral defense is still elusive. In this study, we identified the biosynthesis pathway of a sesquiterpenoid phytoalexin, capsidiol 3-acetate as an antiviral response against RNA virus Potato Virus X (PVX) in Nicotiana benthamiana. NbTPS...

In the last ten years there has been an explosion in plant virus outbreaks, because of either direct or indirect activities of humans. The ease of transporting plant materials and virus vectors, and collecting relatives of crop plants from the wild, has spread viruses widely throughout the world. The most important step in managing a virus disease is correct identification. Tests for diagnosis ...

Recent developments in genetic engineering allow the employment of plants as factories for 1/foreign protein production. Thus, tuberculosis (TB) ESAT6 antigen was expressed in different plant systems, but the level of vaccine protein accumulation was extremely low. We describe the technology for superexpression of TB vaccine proteins (Ag85B, ESAT6, and ESAT6:Ag85B fusion) in plant leaves which ...

A Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-derived vector was used to express a native Human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV-16) L1 gene in Nicotiana benthamiana by means of infectious in vitro RNA transcripts inoculated onto N. benthamiana plants. HPV-16 L1 protein expression was quantitated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) after concentration of the plant extract. We estimated that the L1 product ...

Plant viruses use movement proteins (MPs) to modify intercellular pores called plasmodesmata (PD) to cross the plant cell wall. Many viruses encode a conserved set of three MPs, known as the triple gene block (TGB), typified by Potato virus X (PVX). In this paper, using live-cell imaging of viral RNA (vRNA) and virus-encoded proteins, we show that the TGB proteins have distinct functions during...

A novel acetone extract from cottonseed oil sludge was firstly discovered against plant viruses including Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), Rice stripe virus (RSV) and Southern rice black streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV). Gossypol and β-sitosterol separated from the acetone extract were tested for their effects on anti-TMV and analysed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) assay. In vivo and field trials ...

T he International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses recognized a global total of about 2,000 species of viruses as of 2005 [1]. However, data on viruses that infect terrestrial organisms, including plants, are sparse, and recent sequencing of samples from marine environments for viruses suggests that 2,000 is a gross underestimate of the total number of viral species on earth [2]. In addit...

Plant pathogens are a serious problem for seed export, plant disease control and plant quarantine. Rapid and accurate screening tests are urgently required to protect and prevent plant diseases spreading worldwide. A novel multiplex detection method was developed based on microsphere immunoassays to simultaneously detect four important plant pathogens: a fruit blotch bacterium Acidovorax avenae...

Genetic resistance to plant viruses has been used for at least 80 years to control agricultural losses to viral diseases. To date, hundreds of naturally occurring genes for resistance to plant viruses have been reported from studies of both monocot and dicot crops, their wild relatives, and the plant model, Arabidopsis. The isolation and characterization of a few of these genes in the past deca...

Plant made biologics have elicited much attention over recent years for their potential in assisting those in developing countries who have poor access to modern medicine. Additional applications such as the stockpiling of vaccines against pandemic infectious diseases or potential biological warfare agents are also under investigation. Plant virus expression vectors represent a technology that ...