A viral counter defence protein as a probe for cross-talk or functional overlap between host defence pathways.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is remarkable in that it attacks more crop and wild plant species than any other and it is one of the two most important viruses of field-grown and glasshouse horticultural crops in the UK and worldwide. An essential contributor to the success of CMV is a recently discovered factor called the 2b protein. This viral protein carries out several tasks but its most important is subverting disease resistance. We know that the 2b protein can inhibit the action of two types of resistance mechanism. One of these is called systemic acquired resistance, in which an attack by one disease-causing organism may stimulate a higher degree of resistance to a very broad range of diverse micro-organisms (viruses, fungi, bacteria). The other resistance mechanism defeated by the 2b protein is based on RNA interference, a phenomenon in which viral genetic material is recognised as foreign and broken down. We will determine how the 2b protein affects two apparently very different defence systems and if, in the process of disrupting systemic acquired resistance against virus infection, the 2b also has the potential to increase the susceptibility of plants to other disease causing micro-organisms.