Soybean mosaic virus helper component-protease alters leaf morphology and reduces seed production in transgenic soybean plants

Hyoun Sub Lim, Tae Seok Ko, Houston A. Hobbs, Kris N. Lambert, Jun Myoung Yu, Nancy K. McCoppin, Schuyler S. Korban, Glen L. Hartman, Leslie L. Domier

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Transgenic soybean (Glycine max) plants expressing Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) helper component-protease (HC-Pro) showed altered vegetative and reproductive phenotypes and responses to SMV infection. When inoculated with SMV, transgenic plants expressing the lowest level of HC-Pro mRNA and those transformed with the vector alone initially showed mild SMV symptoms. Plants that accumulated the highest level of SMV HC-Pro mRNA showed very severe SMV symptoms initially, but after 2 weeks symptoms disappeared, and SMV titers were greatly reduced. Analysis of SMV RNA abundance over time with region-specific probes showed that the HC-Pro region of the SMV genome was degraded before the coat protein region. Transgenic soybean plants that expressed SMV HC-Pro showed dose-dependent alterations in unifoliate leaf morphologies and seed production where plants expressing the highest levels of HC-Pro had the most deformed leaves and the lowest seed production. Accumulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) and mRNAs putatively targeted by miRNAs was analyzed in leaves and flowers of healthy, HC-Pro-transgenic, and SMV-infected plants. Neither expression of SMV HC-Pro nor SMV infection produced greater than twofold changes in accumulation of six miRNAs. In contrast, SMV infection was associated with twofold or greater increases in the accumulation of four of seven miRNA-targeted mRNAs tested.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)366-372
Number of pages7
JournalPhytopathology
Volume97
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2007

Keywords

  • Posttranscriptional gene silencing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Agronomy and Crop Science
  • Plant Science

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