GM Rice Resistant to the Tungro Virus

Researchers from the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (DDPSC) have discovered a technology that reduces infection by the virus that causes the Rice Tungro Disease (RTD), a major constraint to rice production in South and Southeast Asia and accounts for nearly $1.5 billion annual loss in rice production worldwide. Genetically modified rice varieties that overexpress either RF2a or RF2b, transcription factors important in plant development and viral promoter expression, are tolerant to infection caused by the rice tungro bacilliform virus (RTBV). RTD is caused by the simultaneous infection of RTBV and the rice tungro spherical virus (RTSV). These viruses are commonly transmitted by the green leaf hopper.

Danforth researchers Roger N. Beachy and Shunhong Dai collaborated with scientists at the Philippine Rice Research Institute to confirm the resistance of the transgenic rice to RTVB in a greenhouse trial. “It has taken a great deal of research effort through the years to gain sufficient information and knowledge about the virus and the host to come to the point of developing a type of resistance to the disease. Hopefully, the results of these studies will lead to improved yields of rice in areas of the world most affected by the disease,” said Roger Beachy, lead researcher and DDPESC president.

Combining genes that overexpress the transcription factors with genes that provide resistance to the insect vector could generate new rice varieties with significantly improved resistance to RTD in vulnerable regions in the world.

The paper published by PNAS is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0810303105 Read http://www.danforthcenter.org/newsmedia/NewsDetail.asp?nid=157 for more information