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

该奖项支持教授约瑟夫J. Bujarski合作 植物研究所的Jerzy Paszkowski的研究 瑞士联邦技术研究所，苏黎世。 他们是 合作开发一种扩增选定基因的方法， 植物组织中的转录本， 产品将被生产。 他们的新方法是利用复制酶 植物RNA病毒复制其他mRNA的能力。 他们的目标是 来制作模型系统来研究病毒复制， 复制酶与宿主蛋白的相互作用。 拟议研究 需要两个不同领域的专业知识： 植物病毒和植物组织培养。 布加斯基博士是 溴病毒的分子生物学和参与的机制， 基因组的复制 瑞士实验室是世界领先的 直接基因转移，Paszkowski博士有丰富的经验， 植物的转化和再生，特别是烟草。 分子克隆将主要在美国实验室进行， 原生质体转化和转基因植株再生 将在瑞士完成。 关键互补的加入 专业知识将为这两项研究带来实质性的互利。 组 这项研究的长期目标是了解分子 植物细胞中基因的表达和功能机制。 这 应该能够选择性地放大或抑制 目的基因在植物细胞中的表达。 的一个主要 在转基因植物中基因表达的问题是获得 足够的mRNA水平。 如果这种新方法成功地作为一种 在溴病毒/烟草系统中放大信息的方法，它将是 对于转基因植物的几乎所有应用都是非常有用的 和基础病毒学研究，将大大有助于发展 植物基因工程中的病毒工具。

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.