Geminivirus resistant plants
A dicot plant cell, plant tissue or plant having a reduced expression of a wild type protein having at least 75% sequence identity with SEQ ID NO. 1 is disclosed. Also disclosed is a plant cell, plant tissue or plant comprising a modified protein and/or a truncated protein having at least about 75% sequence identity when calculated over the positions corresponding to positions 1-66 and positions 78-308 of SEQ ID NO: 1. The modified protein increases the resistance to Geminiviridae. Nucleic acid constructs encoding the modified or truncated protein are also provided. Lastly, methods for generating a plant cell, plant tissue or plant comprising the modified protein that increases the resistance to Geminiviridae are disclosed.
1 . A method for producing a Capsicum plant cell, plant tissue or plant resistant to at least one bipartite member of the Geminiviridae family selected from the group consisting of Yellow Leaf Curl Indonesian Virus (PepYLCIV), Huatesco Yellow Vein Virus (PHYVV), and Pepper Golden Mosaic Virus (PGMV), the method comprising:
(i) abolishing the expression of an endogenous dTP protein encoded by the genome of the Capsicum plant in the plant cell, plant tissue or plant, wherein the endogenous dTP protein comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or a homologue thereof having at least 99% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 over its full length,
wherein the expression of the endogenous protein is abolished by modifying at least one nucleotide in the nucleotide sequence encoding the endogenous dTP protein resulting in a sequence encoding a non-functional dTP protein; and
(ii) screening the plant cell, plant tissue or plant for resistance to at least one of PepYLCIV, PHYVV, and PGMV.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises regenerating a plant from said plant cell and/or plant tissue wherein the regenerated plant expresses said non-functional dTP protein.
3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the modifying or deleting results in the expression of a modified protein having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3 or 5.
4 . The method according to claim 3 , further comprising selecting a plant cell, plant tissue or plant expressing the modified protein.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the Capsicum plant cell, plant tissue or plant is Capsicum annuum.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the protein comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1.