BREAD: Functional Analysis of DNA Satellites Associated with Cassava Mosaic Disease

PI：琳达K. Hanley-Bowdoin（北卡罗来纳州州立大学）CoPI：Joseph Ndunguru [Mikocheni农业研究所（MARI），坦桑尼亚]主要合作者：Peter Sseruwagi [国家作物资源研究所（NaCCRI-NARO），乌干达]木薯是非洲和亚洲的重要主食作物，每天有7亿多人食用。它是由最贫穷村庄的自给农民种植的，当其他作物因冲突而歉收或被毁时，它往往是唯一的食物来源。木薯可以在干旱、高温和贫瘠的土壤条件下生长，但其产量受到病毒性疾病的严重限制。木薯花叶病毒病是由一种DNA病毒复合体引起的，其中包括七种双生病毒。两个卫星DNA与该复合体相关，可以破坏抗性并增强疾病严重性。这些卫星与其他双生病毒卫星不同，其作用机制尚不清楚。该项目的第一个目标是研究卫星如何与木薯双生病毒和宿主植物相互作用，以增强疾病过程。该研究将描述卫星的转录产物，并询问它们是否是增强症状和破坏抗性所必需的。这项分析将作为研究的基础，确定卫星是否通过小RNA或蛋白质起作用，以及它们在感染过程中如何发挥作用。这两个卫星仅显示出有限的同源性，导致不同的表型，并且可能通过不同的机制起作用，这将需要不同的方法来克服它们的活性并恢复抗病性。如果卫星产生靶向宿主基因的小RNA，这些信息可以作为开发表达抗切割靶点的转基因木薯的基础。相反，基因沉默策略可以针对卫星蛋白编码区的转录物进行部署。该项目的第二个目标是确定这些卫星是否被木薯双生病毒等粉虱寄生和传播，或者在感染过程中从木薯基因组中释放出来。如果这些卫星从宿主基因组中释放出来，这一信息将影响未来筛选不含卫星序列且无法作为释放它们的储存库的抗性木薯品种。木薯花叶病限制非洲木薯生产已超过世纪，但在过去20年中，疾病性质的变化导致了前所未有的损失规模。有几个因素促成了这一流行病，包括木薯双生病毒之间的重组导致毒力增强和出现耐药性破坏卫星。2005年，坦桑尼亚、乌干达、卢旺达和布隆迪因木薯花叶病造成的作物总损失为400万公吨/年。卫星对木薯产量的影响尚未有文件记载，但如果不采取措施控制其影响，很可能会大大增加损失，导致非洲粮食不安全。这一过程的第一步是了解卫星如何增强疾病进程，并在受感染的木薯田传播或释放。该项目将提供有关卫星作用和传播机制的重要知识，并有助于合理制定战略，克服其对防治木薯花叶病的不利影响。该项目还将为美国的博士后研究人员（部分由NSF国际科学与工程办公室资助）和坦桑尼亚的研究生提供独特的培训机会，包括国际合作以及实验室和现场经验。该项目将使受训者成为全球参与的独立科学家，能够有效地解决快速演变的植物病毒引起的未来疾病问题。这些研究将转让双生病毒复制和宿主相互作用方面的专门知识，以促进今后对木薯双生病毒及其卫星的研究，并增加坦桑尼亚这类研究的资源。最后，研究结果将通过项目网站MARI主页（http：//www.example.com）提供cloud2.gdnet.org/cms.php? id=organization_details organization_id=3273），并在开放源期刊和在线通讯上发表，如《非洲作物科学学会新闻》（http：www.acss.ws），以确保发展中国家的公众和科学家能够获得这些信息。 作为该项目一部分制作的材料将应要求提供给科学研究界。

PI: Linda K. Hanley-Bowdoin (North Carolina State University)CoPI: Joseph Ndunguru [Mikocheni Agricultural Research Institute (MARI), Tanzania]Key Collaborator: Peter Sseruwagi [National Crops Resource Research Institute (NaCCRI-NARO), Uganda]Cassava is an important staple crop in Africa and Asia, where it is eaten by over 700 million people every day. It is grown by subsistence farmers in the poorest villages and is often the only food source when other crops fail or are destroyed by conflict. Cassava can grow under drought, high temperature and poor soil conditions, but its production is severely limited by viral diseases. Cassava mosaic disease is caused by a DNA virus complex that includes seven geminivirus species. Two satellite DNAs are associated with the complex and can break resistance and enhance disease severity. The satellites do not resemble other geminivirus satellites and their mechanisms of action are not known. The first goal of the project is to examine how the satellites interact with cassava geminiviruses and the host plant to enhance disease processes. The research will characterize the transcription products of the satellites and ask if they are necessary for enhanced symptoms and resistance breaking. This analysis will serve as the basis of studies that determine if the satellites act through a small RNA or a protein and how they function during infection. The two satellite show only limited homology, cause different phenotypes, and may act via different mechanisms that will require different approaches to overcome their activities and restore disease resistance. If the satellites produce small RNAs that target host genes, this information could serve as the basis for developing transgenic cassava that express cleavage-resistant targets. Conversely, a gene silencing strategy could be deployed against the transcripts of a satellite protein coding region. The second goal of the project will determine if the satellites are encapsidated and transmitted by whiteflies like cassava geminiviruses or are released from the cassava genome during infection. If the satellites are released from the host genome, this information will impact future screens for resistant cassava cultivars that do not contain satellite sequences and cannot serve as reservoirs for their release.Cassava mosaic disease has constrained cassava production in Africa for more than a century, but changes in the nature of the disease have led to losses on an unprecedented scale in the last 20 years. Several factors have contributed to the pandemic, including recombination between cassava geminiviruses resulting in enhanced virulence and the emergence of resistance breaking satellites. In 2005, the total crop losses due to cassava mosaic disease were 4M metric tons/year in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. The impact of the satellites on cassava yields has not yet been documented, but it is very likely that they will significantly increase losses and lead to food insecurity in Africa if measures are not taken to contain their effects. The first step in this process is to understand how the satellites enhance disease processes and are transmitted or released in infected cassava fields. The project will contribute important knowledge about the mechanism(s) of action and transmission of the satellites and enable the rational development of strategies to overcome their detrimental effects on efforts to combat cassava mosaic disease. The project will also provide unique training opportunities for a postdoctoral researcher in the US (funded in part through the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering) and a graduate student in Tanzania that include international collaboration as well as bench and field experience. The project will prepare the trainees to become globally engaged, independent scientists who can effectively address future disease problems caused by rapidly evolving plant viruses. The studies will transfer expertise on geminivirus replication and host interactions to facilitate future studies on cassava geminiviruses and their satellites and increase resources for these types of studies in Tanzania. Finally, the results of the research will be accessible through a project website, the MARI homepage (http://cloud2.gdnet.org/cms.php?id=organization_details&organization_id=3273), and published in open source journals and online newsletters such as the African Crop Science Society News (http://www.acss.ws) to ensure access to the public and to scientists in developing countries. Materials created as part of the project will be provided to the scientific research community upon request.