Barley's own proteins may hold the key to virus defense
Crispr
If you've ever seen a patch of yellowing, stunted barley or wheat in a field, that's likely Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus at work, and this research could lead to seed varieties that shrug it off without pesticides.
A tiny virus called Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus infects barley and other cereal crops worldwide, and few plants have natural resistance to it. Instead of looking for resistance genes, researchers are hunting for the opposite: host proteins the virus relies on to infect the plant in the first place. If they can find and disable those helper proteins, the virus loses its foothold and the crop stays healthy, a strategy that tends to be harder for viruses to evolve around.
Key Findings
BYDV is one of the most economically damaging and globally widespread plant viral diseases
Natural genetic resistance to BYDV is rare, so researchers are targeting 'susceptibility genes' instead
The approach screens RNA-protein complexes to identify host proteins that bind viral RNA, which could be disabled via RNA interference or CRISPR
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists are hunting for the plant proteins that a common crop virus hijacks to infect barley and other cereals, aiming to breed grains that resist infection by disabling those proteins instead of fighting the virus directly.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Identificatie van genen voor resistentie en vatbaarheid tegen Barley Yellow Dwarf virus
Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus (BYDV) is one of the most important plant viral diseases in terms of economic impact and worldwide distribution. In response to viral infection, biotechnology and breeding...
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