Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, 975 N. Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA.
Plant Mol Biol. 2010 Apr;72(6):621-30. doi: 10.1007/s11103-010-9600-0. Epub 2010 Feb 19.
The symptoms of rice tungro disease are caused by infection by a DNA-containing virus, rice tungro bacilliform virus (RTBV). To reduce expression of the RTBV promoter, and to ultimately reduce virus replication, we tested three synthetic zinc finger protein transcription factors (ZF-TFs), each comprised of six finger domains, designed to bind to sequences between -58 and +50 of the promoter. Two of these ZF-TFs reduced expression from the promoter in transient assays and in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants. One of the ZF-TFs had significant effects on plant regeneration, apparently as a consequence of binding to multiple sites in the A. thaliana genome. Expression from the RTBV promoter was reduced by approximately 45% in transient assays and was reduced by up to 80% in transgenic plants. Co-expression of two different ZF-TFs did not further reduce expression of the promoter. These experiments suggest that ZF-TFs may be used to reduce replication of RTBV and thereby offer a potential method for control of an important crop disease.
水稻锯齿叶矮缩病的症状是由一种含有 DNA 的病毒，即水稻锯齿叶矮缩病毒（RTBV）感染引起的。为了降低 RTBV 启动子的表达，最终减少病毒复制，我们测试了三种合成锌指蛋白转录因子（ZF-TFs），它们由六个指状结构域组成，设计用于结合启动子-58 到+50 之间的序列。其中两种 ZF-TFs 在瞬时测定和转基因拟南芥植物中降低了启动子的表达。其中一种 ZF-TF 对植物再生有显著影响，显然是由于与拟南芥基因组中的多个位点结合。在瞬时测定中，RTBV 启动子的表达降低了约 45%，在转基因植物中降低了高达 80%。两种不同 ZF-TFs 的共表达并没有进一步降低启动子的表达。这些实验表明，ZF-TFs 可能被用于降低 RTBV 的复制，从而为控制一种重要的作物疾病提供了一种潜在的方法。
