US-Switzerland Cooperative Research: Utilization of Viral Replicases for Selective Amplification of Foreign mRNAs in Transgenic Plants

该奖项支持Jozef J.Bujarski教授与苏黎世瑞士联邦理工学院植物科学研究所Jerzy Paszkowski教授的合作研究。他们正在合作开发一种在植物组织中放大选定基因转录本的过程，以便生产大量特定的基因产品。他们的新方法是使用植物RNA病毒的复制酶来复制其他mRNAs。他们的目标是建立模型系统来研究病毒复制和复制酶与宿主蛋白的相互作用。拟议的研究需要两个不同领域的专业知识：植物病毒的分子生物学和植物组织培养。布贾斯基博士是溴病毒分子生物学及其基因组复制机制方面的专家。瑞士的实验室在直接基因转移方面处于世界领先地位，帕兹科夫斯基博士在植物，尤其是烟草的转化和再生方面拥有丰富的经验。分子克隆将主要在美国实验室进行，原生质体的转化和转基因植物的再生将在瑞士进行。关键的互补专业知识的加入将为两个研究小组带来实质性的互惠互利。这项研究的长期目标是了解基因在植物细胞中表达和功能的分子机制。这应该使有选择地放大或抑制植物细胞中所需基因的表达成为可能。在转基因植物中表达基因的主要问题之一是获得足够的mRNA水平。如果这一新的方法成功地作为一种在雀鸟病毒/烟草系统中放大信息的方法，它将对几乎所有转基因植物的应用和基础病毒学研究都是非常有用的，并将极大地帮助植物基因工程中基于病毒的工具的开发。

This award supports Professor Jozef J. Bujarski for cooperative research with Profesor Jerzy Paszkowski of the Institute of Plant Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. They are collaborating in developing a process for amplifying selected gene transcripts in plant tissues so that large amounts of particular gene products will be produced. Their novel approach is to use replicases of plant RNA viruses for replication of other mRNAs. Their goal is to produce model systems to investigate virus replication and interaction of replicase with host proteins. The proposed research requires expertise in two different areas: the molecular biology of plant viruses and plant tissue culture. Dr. Bujarski is an expert in the molecular biology of bromoviruses and the mechanisms involved in the replication of their genomes. The Swiss lab is a world leader in direct gene transfer, and Dr. Paszkowski has substantial experience in the transformation and regeneration of plants, especially tobacco. The molecular cloning will be done primarily in the U.S. lab, and transformation of protoplasts and regeneration of transgenic plants will be done in Switzerland. The joining of critical complementary expertise will bring substantial mutual benefits to the two research groups. The long term goal of this research is to understand molecular mechanisms of expression and function of genes in plant cells. This should make it possible to selectively amplify or inhibit the expression of desired genes in plant cells. One of the major problems of expression of genes in transgenic plants is obtaining sufficient levels of mRNA. If this novel approach is successful as a way to amplify messages in a bromovirus/tobacco system, it will be of great utility for virtually all applications of transgenic plants and basic virology research and will greatly assist the development of virus-based tools in plant genetic engineering.