Progress 12/01/09 to 09/30/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Researchers in the plant virology, plant biology (Arabidopsis, Nicotiana benthamiana, soybean) research fields. Soybean growers and related industries. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We have diseminated our research results by publishing in professional journals, reporting on meetings like annual meetings of ASV, APS. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During the last five years, we made substantial progresses on both basic and applied research fronts consistent with the research goals set forth in our Hatch project. On the basic research side, we used Turnip crinkle virus as a model virus (TCV) and Arabidopsis as a model host to explore the molecular mechanisms of RNA silencing-based antiviral defense, as well as cross protection. We also used a bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) – Nicotiana benthamiana system to examine the mechanisms of nonhost antiviral defense. The coat protein of TCV is a dual function protein that serves as both the basic building block of the virus capsid and the suppressor of RNA silencing-based defense. We have discovered that changing a few key amino acid (AA) residues within the CP open reading frame (ORF) led to the loss of silencing suppression without significantly compromising the assembly of virus capsid. We further demonstrated that TCV mutants carrying these changes caused systemic infection only in Arabidopsis plants that were defective in mounting RNA silencing-based antiviral defense. This result further confirms the critical importance of RNA silencing as a potent antiviral defense mechanism. Cross protection refers to the practice that uses an attenuated virus to protect host plants from subsequent invasion of more severe isolates of the same viruses. We used TCV as a model to study the mechanism of cross protection, and found evidence to suggest that cross protection reflects an evolutionarily selected trait of many viruses that functions to ensure the prompt exit of virus progenies from initiated infected cells, and the timely spread of the virus throughout the whole host. We are excited by these paradigm changing discoveries and plan to continue the investigations in this direction in the coming year. Concerning the nonhost resistance to BPMV in N. benthamiana, we have discovered that the two genomic RNAs of BPMV are targeted by the nonhost with different mechanisms. While RNA1 of BPMV could replicate in N. benthamiana cells, RNA2 is prevented from replication by a novel defense mechanism. This important discovery formed the basis for a USDA proposal, which was ranked very high but not funded due to limited funds available. We have published two papers on this project. Two more are at various stages of preparation. On the applied research front, we have carried out three year of field tests for the transgenic soybean plants we produced earlier. These transgenic plants (dsABS lines) were designed to simultaneously confer resistance to three major soybean-infecting viruses (Alfalfa mosaic virus, BPMV, and Soybean mosaic virus). Our previous greenhouse experiments showed that these plants are strongly resistant to the three viruses even when all three viruses were inoculated onto the plants at the same time. The three years worth of field experiments confirmed the strong resistance to viruses that were targeted by the transgene. We also conducted a two year, 44 county survey of soybean viruses in Ohio. The survey revealed the most prevalent viruses in Ohio soybean fields, providing the basis for the development of control strategies. We also successfully generated an attenuated variant of Pepino mosaic virus, an emerging tomato pathogen in glass house productions. This KD variant has proven to be an effective cross protection variant and should be useful for controlling PepMV. A manuscript is being prepared for this study. We have presented three papers at this year’s annual meeting of American Society for Virology, one paper at the annual meeting of American Phytopathological Society. I was also an invited speaker at 2013 International Congress of Plant Pathology. I have been invited to Peking University and China Agricultural University for academic exchanges in both 2013 and 2014. Altogether we have published more than 20 papers.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2010
Citation:
Zhang, X., and Qu, F. (2014). In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester. DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0020710.pub2.
Lin, J., Guo, J., Finer, J., Dorrance, A., Redinbaugh, M.G., and Qu, F. (2014). Journal of Virology 88, 3213-3222.
Han, J., Ellis, M.A., and Qu, F. (2014). Plant Disease 98, 284.
Ali, A.K., Lin, J., Han, J., Ibrahim, K.M., Jarjees, M.M., and Qu, F. (2014). Virus Research 179, 247-250.
Donze, T, Qu, F, Twigg, P, and Morri, T.J. (2014). Virology 449, 207-214.
Singh, J., Zhang, X., Stewart, L., Mitchell, T., and Qu, F. (2014). Page 1 16 in Plant Virus-Host Interaction: Molecular Approaches And Viral Evolution. A book edited by: Gaur, RK, Hohn, T, and Sharma, P. Academic Press, Elsevier.
Jiang, L, Wijeratne, A.J., Wijeratne, S, Fraga, M, Meulia, T, Doohan, D, Li, Z, and Qu, F. (2013). PLoS One 8, e81389.
Lin, J., Ali, A.K., Chen, P., Ghabrial, S., Finer, J., Dorrance, A., Redinbaugh, M.G., and Qu, F. (2013). Journal of General Virology 94, 1415-1420.
Han, J., Domier, L.L., Dorrance, A., and Qu, F. (2013). Plant Disease 97, 693.
Linjian Jiang, Feng Qu, Zhaohu Li, and Doug Doohan (2013) New Phytologist 198, 1017-1022.
Zhang, X, Zhao, X, Zhang, Y, Niu, S, Yu, J, Han, C, Qu, F, and Li, D. (2013). Virology Journal 10, 200.
Stewart, L., Paul, P., Qu, F., Redinbaugh, M.G., Miao, H., Todd, J., and Jones, M. (2013). Plant Disease 97, 1125.
Xiuchun Zhang, Xiaofeng Zhang, Jasleen Singh, Dawei Li, and Feng Qu (2012). Journal of Virology. 86, 6847-6854.
Junping Han, Leslie L. Domier, Anne Dorrance and Feng Qu (2012). Journal of Virology 86, 9555.
Satyanarayana Tatineni, Feng Qu, Ruhui Li, T. Jack Morris, and Roy French (2012). Virology 433, 104-115.
Brock A. Young, Drake C. Stenger, Feng Qu, T. Jack Morris, Satyanarayana Tatineni, and Roy French (2012). Virus Research. 163, 672-677.
Carola M. De La Torre, Feng Qu, Margaret G. Redinbaugh, and Dennis J. Lewandowski (2012). Phytopathology 102, 1176-1181.
Zhang, X., Sato, S., Ye, X., Dorrance, A.E., T. Morris, T.J., Clemente, T.E., and Qu, F. (2011). Phytopathology 101, 1264-1269.
Qu, F. (2010). Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 23, 1248-1252.
Cao, M., Ye, X., Willie, K., Lin, J., Zhang, X., Redinbaugh, M.G., Simon, A.E., Morris, T.J., and Qu, F. (2010). J. Virol. 84, 7793-7802.
Qu, F. (2010). Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: RNA (WIREs RNA). 1, 22-33.
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Progress 01/01/13 to 09/30/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Researchers in the plant virology, plant biology (Arabidopsis, Nicotiana benthamiana, soybean) research fields. Soybean growers and related industries. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We have provided trainings to three graduate students, two visiting scholars, one postdoc, and one technician, How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We have presented three papers at this year’s annual meeting of American Society for Virology, one paper at the annual meeting of American Phytopathological Society. I was also an invited speaker at 2013 International Congress of Plant Pathology, as well as at Peking University and China Agricultural University. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We plan to continue our dissection of the molecular mechanism of corss protection using the turnip crinkle virus system. We will continue to investigate the nonhost resistance to bean pod mottle virus in Nicotiana benthamiana. We will continue to develop pratical ways to solve virus problems in soybean fields and tomato productions.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During 2013, we continue to make progresses on both basic and applied research that are integral parts of our research goals. On the basic research side, we have used Turnip crinkle virus as a model virus (TCV) and Arabidopsis as a model host to explore the molecular mechanisms of cross protection, and used a bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) – Nicotiana benthamiana system to examine the nonhost antiviral defense. Cross protection refers to the practice that uses an attenuated virus to protect host plants from subsequent invasion of more severe isolates of the same viruses. We used TCV as a model to study the mechanism of cross protection, and found evidence to suggest that cross protection reflects an evolutionarily selected trait of many viruses that functions to ensure the prompt exit of virus progenies from initiated infected cells, and the timely spread of the virus throughout the whole host. We are excited by these paradigm changing discoveries and plan to continue the investigations in this direction in the coming year. Concerning the nonhost resistance to BPMV in N. benthamiana, we have discovered that the two genomic RNAs of BPMV are targeted by the nonhost with different mechanisms. While RNA1 of BPMV could replicate in N. benthamiana cells, RNA2 is prevented from replication by a novel defense mechanism. This important discovery formed the basis for a USDA proposal, which was ranked very high but not funded due to limited funds available. We have published two papers on this project. Two more are at various stages of preparation. On the applied research front, we have carried out the third year of field tests for the transgenic soybean plants we produced earlier. These transgenic plants (dsABS lines) were designed to simultaneously confer resistance to three major soybean-infecting viruses (Alfalfa mosaic virus, BPMV, and Soybean mosaic virus). Our previous greenhouse experiments showed that these plants are strongly resistant to the three viruses even when all three viruses were inoculated onto the plants at the same time. The three years worth of field experiments confirmed the strong resistance to viruses that were targeted by the transgene. We also conducted a two year, 44 county survey of soybean viruses in Ohio. The survey revealed the most prevalent viruses in Ohio soybean fields, providing the basis for the development of control strategies. We also successfully generated an attenuated variant of Pepino mosaic virus, an emerging tomato pathogen in glass house productions. This KD variant has proven to be an effective cross protection variant and should be useful for controlling PepMV. A manuscript is being prepared for this study. We have presented three papers at this year’s annual meeting of American Society for Virology, one paper at the annual meeting of American Phytopathological Society. I was also an invited speaker at 2013 International Congress of Plant Pathology, as well as at Peking University and China Agricultural University.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Lin, J, Ali, AK, Chen, P, Ghabrial, S, Finer, J, Dorrance, A, Redinbaugh, P, and Qu, F, "A stem-loop structure in the 5 untranslated region of Bean pod mottle virus RNA2 is specifically required for RNA2 accumulation". Journal of General Virology. Vol. 94, 1415-1420. 2013.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Ali, AK, Lin, J, Han, J, Ibrahim, KM, Jarjees, MM, Qu, F. "The 5 untranslated region of Bean pod mottle virus RNA2 tolerates unusually large deletions or insertions." Virus Research. Published online, Nov 2013.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Han, J, Domier, LL, Dorrance, AE, and Qu, F, "First report of Soybean vein necrosis-associated virus in Ohio soybean fields". Plant Disease. Vol. 97, no. 5: 693. 2013.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Jiang, L, Qu, F, Li, Z, and Doohan, D, "Inter-species protein trafficking endows dodder (Cuscuta pentagona) with a host-specific stress-tolerant trait". New Phytologist. Vol. 198, no. 4: 1017-1022. 2013.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Zhang, X, Zhao, X, Zhang, Y, Niu, S, Yu, J, Han, C, Qu, F, and Li, D, "Basic amino acid residues at the N terminus of Beet black scorch virus capsid protein are critical for virion stability and systemic movement". Virology Journal. Vol. 10, 200. 2013.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Stewart, LR, Paul, P, Qu, F, Redinbaugh, MG, Miao, H, Todd, J, and Jones, M, "Wheat mosaic virus (WMoV), the causal agent of High Plains disease, is present in Ohio wheat fields". Plant Disease. Vol. 97, no. 8: 1125. 2013.
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Progress 01/01/12 to 12/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: During 2012, we continue to make progresses on both basic and applied research that are integral parts of our research goals. On the basic research side, we have used Turnip crinkle virus as a model virus (TCV) and Arabidopsis as a model host to explore the molecular mechanisms of RNA silencing-mediated antiviral defense, and used a bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) - Nicotiana benthamiana system to examine the nonhost antiviral defense. The coat protein of TCV is a dual function protein that serves as both the basic building block of the virus capsid and the suppressor of RNA silencing-based defense. We have previously established that changing a few key amino acid (AA) residues within the CP open reading frame (ORF) led to the loss of silencing suppression without significantly compromising the assembly of virus capsid. During the past year, we used these mutant viruses to evaluate the contribution of environmental factors to the plant antiviral defense. The results of our recent experiments led to the hypothesis that a unique RNA silencing pathway ensures the survival of TCV-infected plants under environmental conditions that favor more rigorous virus replication. These results have now been published on Journal of Virology. Concerning the nonhost resistance to BPMV in N. benthamiana, we have discovered that the two genomic RNAs of BPMV are targeted by the nonhost with different mechanisms. While RNA1 of BPMV could replicate in N. benthamiana cells, RNA2 is prevented from replication by a novel defense mechanism. This important discovery formed the basis for a USDA proposal, as well as a manuscript we recently submitted to a prominent journal. On the applied research front, we have carried out the second year of field tests for the transgenic soybean plants we produced earlier. These transgenic plants (dsABS lines) were designed to simultaneously confer resistance to three major soybean-infecting viruses (Alfalfa mosaic virus, BPMV, and Soybean mosaic virus). Our previous greenhouse experiments showed that these plants are strongly resistant to the three viruses even when all three viruses were inoculated onto the plants at the same time. The two years worth of field experiments confirmed the strong resistance to viruses that were targeted by the transgene. We are also actively involved in helping farmers in developing countries tackling their virus problems. We have hosted visiting scholars from Kenya (Miriam Otipa)and Uganda (Warren Arinatwe)to help them identify viruses that cause diseases in passion fruit and tomato, respectively. I also visited Tanzania this year to investigate additional needs of these countries. We have presented four papers at this year's annual meeting of American Society for Virology. I also spoke at last year's annual meeting of Ohio Plant Biotechnology Symposium. In addition, I was one of the invited speakers on this year's Biennial Conference on Molecular and Cellular Biology of Soybean. I have also been invited to speak at the seminar series of the Entomology department, OARDC, OSU. Finally, I am this year's rotating chair of NCERA200, in charge of organizing the annual symposium. PARTICIPANTS: Feng Qu, principle investigator. Xiaofeng Zhang, visiting graduate student. Junyan Lin, Jasleen Singh, Godwill Chewachong, Ashlina Chin, graduate students. Ahmed K. Al-Dulaimi and Ping Chen, visiting scholar. Junping Han, technician. TARGET AUDIENCES: Researchers in the plant virology, plant biology (Arabidopsis, Nicotiana benthamiana, soybean) research fields. Soybean growers and related industries. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
1. The finding that a novel RNA silencing pathway is responsible for engaging wild-type viruses in plants, and that this pathway is crucial for the plant survival under adverse environmental conditions, pave the way for future efforts aimed at achieving ultimate control of virus diseases of crops through manipulating the RNA silencing-based antiviral defense of host plants. 2. The discovery that one of the two genomic RNA2 of BPMV is selectively targeted by the nonhost plant Nicotiana benthamiana represents a breakthrough of this research area. It not only reveals a novel mechanism of plant antiviral defense, but also solidifies the BPMV-N. benthamiana as a model system for exploring the mechanisms of nonhost antiviral resistance. We foresee that our investigation of nonhost antiviral resistance shall lead to the unraveling of even more novel mechanisms, providing innovative tools for the management of crop virus diseases. 3. Our success in achieving effective multi-virus resistance in soybean plants with a single transgene promises to decimate the three major soybean-infecting viruses. Furthermore, this strategy could be readily adapted to control other viruses, or even other nonviral pathogens.
Publications
- (1) Xiuchun Zhang, Xiaofeng Zhang, Jasleen Singh, Dawei Li, and Feng Qu (2012). Temperature-dependent survival of Turnip crinkle virus-infected Arabidopsis plants relies on an RNA silencing-based defense that requires DCL2, AGO2, and HEN1. Journal of Virology. 86, 6847-6854.
- (2) Junping Han, Leslie L. Domier, Anne Dorrance and Feng Qu (2012). Complete genome sequence of a novel pararetrovirus isolated from soybean. Journal of Virology 86, 9555.
- (3) Brock A. Young, Drake C. Stenger, Feng Qu, T. Jack Morris, Satyanarayana Tatineni, and Roy French (2012). Tritimovirus P1 functions as a suppressor of RNA silencing and an enhancer of disease symptoms. Virus Research 163, 672-677.
- (4) Satyanarayana Tatineni, Feng Qu, Ruhui Li, T. Jack Morris, and Roy French (2012). Divergent evolution of Potyviridae viruses accounts for the adoption of distinct viral proteins by poaceviruses and potyviruses as RNA silencing suppressors. Virology 433-104-115.
- (5) Junyan Lin, Xiuchun Zhang, Margret G. Redinbaugh, Anne Dorrance, John Finer, Said Ghabrial, and Feng Qu (2012). Nonhost resistance in Nicotiana benthamiana engages the bipartite Bean pod mottle virus by selectively targeting the replication of its genomic RNA2. (Submitted to Plant Physiology).
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Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: During 2011, we continue to make progresses on both basic and applied research that are integral parts of our research goals. On the basic research side, we have used Turnip crinkle virus as a model virus (TCV) and Arabidopsis as a model host to explore the molecular mechanisms of RNA silencing-mediated antiviral defense, and used a bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) - Nicotiana benthamiana system to examine the nonhost antiviral defense. The coat protein of TCV is a dual function protein that serves as both the basic building block of the virus capsid and the suppressor of RNA silencing-based defense. We have previously established that changing a few key amino acid (AA) residues within the CP open reading frame (ORF) led to the loss of silencing suppression without significantly compromising the assembly of virus capsid. During the past year, we used these mutant viruses to evaluate the contribution of environmental factors to the plant antiviral defense. The results of our recent experiments led to the hypothesis that a unique RNA silencing pathway ensures the survival of TCV-infected plants under environmental conditions that favor more rigorous virus replication. Concerning the nonhost resistance to BPMV in N. benthamiana, we have discovered, for the first time, that the two genomic RNAs of BPMV are targeted by the nonhost with different mechanisms. While RNA1 of BPMV could replicate in N. benthamiana cells, RNA2 is prevented from replication by a novel defense mechanism. This important discovery formed the basis for a USDA proposal, as well as a manuscript we recently submitted to a prominent journal. On the applied research front, we have carried out the first round of field tests for the transgenic soybean plants we produced earlier. These transgenic plants (dsABS lines) were designed to simultaneously confer resistance to three major soybean-infecting viruses (Alfalfa mosaic virus, BPMV, and Soybean mosaic virus). Our previous greenhouse experiments showed that these plants are strongly resistant to the three viruses even when all three viruses were inoculated onto the plants at the same time. Preliminary results from field testing suggest that the resistance to viruses is well preserved in fields. We are also actively involved in helping farmers in developing countries tackling their virus problems. In addition to the collaborative work we carried out with a Kenyan visiting scholar, we have hosted another visiting scholar from Uganda (Warren Arinatwe) and helped him identifying the primary cause of the tomato virus diseases in his country - Tomato mosaic virus. My collaboration with scholars from African countries is expected to continue in the coming years. We have been disseminating our research findings in a number of different ways. We have presented three papers at this year's annual meeting of American Society for Virology. I also spoke at this year's annual meeting of Ohio Plant Biotechnology Symposium. In addition, I took every chance to speak to soybean growers gathering. Finally, I am also a member of NCERA200, and served as the secretary of this group during 2011. PARTICIPANTS: Feng Qu, principle investigator. Xiuchun Zhang, postdoctoral researchers. Junyan Lin, Jasleen Singh, Godwill Chewachong, Ashlina Chin, graduate students. Warren Arinatwe, Xiaofeng Zhang, visiting scholars. TARGET AUDIENCES: Plant virology research community; soybean growers PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
1. The finding that a novel RNA silencing pathway is responsible for engaging wild-type viruses in plants, and that this pathway is crucial for the plant survival under adverse environmental conditions, pave the way for future efforts aimed at achieving ultimate control of virus diseases of crops through manipulating the RNA silencing-based antiviral defense of host plants. 2. The discovery that one of the two genomic RNA2 of BPMV is selectively targeted by the nonhost plant Nicotiana benthamiana represents a breakthrough of this research area. It not only reveals a novel mechanism of plant antiviral defense, but also solidifies the BPMV-N. benthamiana as a model system for exploring the mechanisms of nonhost antiviral resistance. We foresee that our investigation of nonhost antiviral resistance shall lead to the unraveling of even more novel mechanisms, providing innovative tools for the management of crop virus diseases. 3. Our success in achieving effective multi-virus resistance in soybean plants with a single transgene promises to decimate the three major soybean-infecting viruses. Furthermore, this strategy could be readily adapted to control other viruses, or even other nonviral pathogens. 4. The identification of the major viral pathogen of tomatoes grown in Uganda is expected to help the small farmers there to achieve effective control of the virus problems, improve the production yield as well as farmer income in Uganda.
Publications
- 1. Xiuchun Zhang, Shirley Sato, Xiaohong Ye, Anne E. Dorrance, T. Jack Morris, Thomas E. Clemente, and Feng Qu (2011). Robust RNAi-based resistance to mixed infection of three viruses in soybean plants expressing separate short hairpins from a single transgene. Phytopathology 101, 1264-1269.
- 2. Junyan Lin, Xiuchun Zhang, Margret G. Redinbaugh, Anne Dorrance, John Finer, Said Ghabrial, and Feng Qu (2011). Nonhost resistance in Nicotiana benthamiana engages the bipartite Bean pod mottle virus by selectively targeting the replication of its genomic RNA2. (Submitted to Plant Physiology).
- 3. Brock A. Young, Drake C. Stenger, Feng Qu, T. Jack Morris, Satyanarayana Tatineni, and Roy French (2011). Tritimovirus P1 functions as a suppressor of RNA silencing and an enhancer of disease symptoms. (Submitted to Virus Research).
- 4. Satyanarayana Tatineni, Ruhui Li, Feng Qu, T. Jack Morris, and Roy French (2011). Divergent evolution of Potyviridae viruses accounts for the adoption of distinct viral proteins by poaceviruses and potyviruses as RNA silencing suppressors. (Submitted to Virology).
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Progress 01/01/10 to 12/31/10
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Outputs: We have made considerable progresses on both of our primary research directions, which laid the groundwork for further discoveries in the coming years. 1. On the basic research side, we have used Turnip crinkle virus as a model virus (TCV) and Arabidopsis as a model host to explore the molecular mechanisms of RNA silencing-mediated antiviral defense, and used a bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) - Nicotiana benthamiana system to examine the nonhost antiviral defense. 1a. The coat protein of TCV is a dual function protein that serves as both the basic building block of the virus capsid and the suppressor of RNA silencing-based defense. During the past year, we have discovered that changing a few key amino acid (AA) residues within the CP open reading frame (ORF) led to the loss of silencing suppression without significantly compromising the assembly of virus capsid. We further demonstrated that TCV mutants carrying these changes caused systemic infection only in Arabidopsis plants that were defective in mounting RNA silencing-based antiviral defense. This result further confirms the critical importance of RNA silencing as a potent antiviral defense mechanism. 1b. We also made solid progresses on the nonhost resistance project, after repeated attempt with several different methods, we conclude that BPMV-encoded suppressor of RNA silencing likely does not function properly in N. benthamiana plants, hence provide a possible explanation for the inability of BPMV to infect N. benthamiana successfully. We plan to pursue this project further in the next year. 2. One the applied research front, we have characterized three different lines of transgenic soybean plants that express three short double-stranded RNAs derived from three major soybean-infecting viruses (Alfalfa mosaic virus [AMV], BPMV, and Soybean mosaic virus [SMV]). These plants showed strong resistance to these three viruses even when all three viruses were inoculated onto the plants simultaneously, thus demonstrating the effectiveness of our strategy. These plants will be tested in fields in the coming growth season to evaluate their field performance. We are also actively involved in helping farmers in developing countries tackling their virus problems. Specifically, my lab hosted a visiting scholar from Kenya and helped her to identify the causal agent of severe virus diseases of passionfruit plants. In addition, I am also advising two other trainees from African countries, equipping them with the essential molecular virological techniques needed to help farmers in their own countries. 3. We have been disseminating our research findings in a number of different ways. I have been an invited speaker at this year's annual meeting of American Society for Virology. I also spoke at this year's meeting of American Phytopathological Society. In addition, I took every chance to speak to soybean growers gathering. Finally, I am also a member of NCERA200. PARTICIPANTS: Feng Qu, principle investigator. Xiuchun Zhang, Mingxia Cao, postdoctoral researchers. Junyan Lin, Jasleen Singh, Godwill Chewachong, graduate students. Miriam Otipa, visiting scholar from Kenya Agriculture Research Institute. TARGET AUDIENCES: Soybean growers, plant research community, crops and plant growers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Outcomes/Impacts: 1. Our finding that the capsid assembly and silencing suppression functions of TCV CP can be separated provides us and the research committee with excellent resource for dissecting the RNA silencing mechanism. Future research activities based on this resource is expected to deepen our understanding of antiviral RNA silencing, leading to virus control strategies based on RNA silencing-based defense. 2. Our continued efforts at elucidating the nonhost resistance against BPMV is expected to not only provide a model system for exploring the mechanisms of nonhost antiviral resistance, but also offer great potentials for novel measures for managing virus diseases of crop plants. 3. Our success in achieving effective multi-virus resistance in soybean plants with a single transgene promises to decimate the three major soybean-infecting viruses. Furthermore, this strategy could be readily adapted to control other viruses, or even other nonviral pathogens. 4. The identification of a new virus from diseased passionfruit plants has already led to the development of a procedure for screening seed stocks in Kenya, and is expected to ameliorate the disease problems of passionfruit in that country.
Publications
- 1. Feng Qu (2010). Antiviral role of plant-encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerases revisited with deep 1 sequencing of small interfering RNAs of virus origin. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 23, 1248-1252.
- 2. Mingxia Cao, Xiaohong Ye, Kristen Willie, Junyan Lin, Xiuchun Zhang, Margaret G. Redinbaugh, Anne E. Simon, T. Jack Morris, and Feng Qu. (2010). The capsid protein of Turnip crinkle virus overcomes two separate defense barriers to facilitate viral systemic movement in Arabidopsis. Journal of Virology. 84, 7793-7802.
- 3. Feng Qu (2010). Plant viruses versus RNAi: Simple pathogens reveal complex insights on plant anti-microbial defense. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: RNA (WIREs RNA). 1, 22-33.
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