Using a virus-derived system to manipulate plant natural product biosynthetic pathways.

A series of vectors (the pEAQ series) based on cowpea mosaic virus has been developed which allows the rapid transient expression of high levels of foreign protein in plants without the need for viral replication. The plasmids are small binary vectors, which are introduced into plant leaves by agroinfiltration. They are modular in design and allow the insertion of multiple coding sequences on the same segment of T-DNA. These properties make the pEAQ vectors particularly suitable for use in situations, such as the investigation and manipulation of metabolic pathways, where the coexpression of multiple proteins within a cell is required.