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N E Tumer

Publications and source records attributed to N E Tumer.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Engineering resistance to mixed virus infection in a commercial potato cultivar: resistance to potato virus X and potato virus Y in transgenic Russet Burbank.

Potato virus X (PVX) and potato virus Y (PVY) infection in potato may result in the loss of certification of seed potatoes and affect quality and yield of potatoes in commercial production. We transformed a major commercial cultivar of potato, Russet Burbank, with the coat protein genes of PVX and PVY. Transgenic plants that expressed both CP genes were resistant to infection by PVX and PVY by mechanical inoculation. One line was also resistant when PVY was inoculated with viruliferous green peach aphids. These experiments demonstrate that CP protection is effective against mixed infection by two different viruses and against mechanical and aphid transmission of PVY.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Analysis of the mechanism of protection in transgenic plants expressing the potato virus X coat protein or its antisense RNA.

Transgenic tobacco plants engineered to express either the potato virus X (PVX) coat protein (CP+) or the antisense coat protein transcript (CP-antisense) were protected from infection by PVX, as indicated by reduced lesion numbers on inoculated leaves, delay or absence of systemic symptom development and reduction in virus accumulation in both inoculated and systemic leaves. The extent of protection observed in CP+ plants primarily depended upon the level of expression of the coat protein. Plants expressing antisense RNA were protected only at low inoculum concentrations. The extent of this protection was even lower than that observed in plants expressing low levels of CP. In contrast to previous reports for plants expressing tobacco mosaic virus or alfalfa mosaic virus CP, inoculation of plants expressing high levels of PVX CP with PVX RNA did not overcome the protection. Specifically, lesion numbers on inoculated leaves and PVX levels on inoculated and systemtic leaves of the CP+ plants were reduced to a similar extent in both virus and RNA inoculated plants. Although these results do not rule out that CP-mediated protection involves inhibition of uncoating of the challenge virus, they suggest that PVX CP (or its RNA) can moderate early events in RNA infection by a different mechanism.

Journal Article↗

Purification and characterization of RNA polymerase from the cyanobacterium Anabaena 7120.

A procedure for the purification of RNA polymerase from vegetative cells of the filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena 7120 is described. Polyethyleneimine precipitation followed by gel filtration and affinity chromatography steps results in greater than 99% purification with 46% yield. The enzyme has a novel core component of Mr = 66,000, designated gamma, in addition to the typical prokaryotic beta'beta alpha 2 core enzyme. The sigma subunit has been identified by reconstitution of specific transcriptional activity from core enzyme and gel-purified sigma. In transcription assays, this RNA polymerase initiates at a number of Anabaena vegetative cell promoters, as well as from a bacteriophage T4 early promoter, but does not initiate at nitrogen fixation (nif) promoters used in heterocysts. The promoter specificity of Anabaena RNA polymerase is compared with that of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase.

Base Sequence↗

Expression of alfalfa mosaic virus coat protein gene confers cross-protection in transgenic tobacco and tomato plants.

A chimeric gene encoding the alfalfa mosaic virus (AlMV) coat protein was constructed and introduced into tobacco and tomato plants using Ti plasmid-derived plant transformation vectors. The progeny of the self-fertilized transgenic plants were significantly delayed in symptom development and in some cases completely escaped infection after inoculated with AlMV. The inoculated leaves of the transgenic plants had significantly reduced numbers of lesions and accumulated substantially lower amounts of coat protein due to virus replication than the control plants. These results show that high level expression of the chimeric viral coat protein gene confers protection against AlMV, which differs from other plant viruses in morphology, genome structure, gene expression strategy and early steps in viral replication. Based on our results with AlMV and those reported earlier for tobacco mosaic virus, it appears that genetically engineered cross-protection may be a general method for preventing viral disease in plants.

Journal Article↗

The genes encoding the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase are expressed differentially in petunia leaves.

We have isolated five members of the multigene family encoding the small subunit (rbcS) of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase in petunia and examined their expression in petunia leaves. Of the five rbcS genes, two (ssu11A and ssu8) are expressed at high levels in petunia leaves. Northern analysis using gene specific oligonucleotide probes revealed that ssu11A accounts for 40% of the total rbcS transcripts in petunia leaves while ssu8 accounts for 4 to 5% of the total rbcS transcripts. Structural comparisons of ssu8 and ssu11A revealed that the coding sequence of ssu8 is interrupted by three introns, while the coding sequence of ssu11A is interrupted by two introns. The positions of the first two introns are identical, the third intron in ssu8 is located in a highly conserved region of the protein. The 5' and 3' flanking sequences of ssu11A are highly homologous to the 5' and 3' flanking sequences of ssu8. S1 nuclease mapping was used to locate the start of transcription of ssu8 and ssu11A and showed that ssu8 mRNA leader differs in sequence from the ssu11A mRNA leader.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Cloning and structural analysis of DNA encoding an A2B1a subunit of glycinin.

The partial DNA sequence of a glycinin gene in a genomic clone and a homologous cDNA clone were determined. They have nearly identical nucleotide sequences and encode the basic polypeptide and part of the acidic polypeptide for an A2B1a glycinin subunit. The protein primary structure deduced from the DNA sequence is in close agreement with the amino acid sequence of the subunit determined chemically and confirms assignment of part of the amino acid sequence in the basic component where we were able to establish an overlap using conventional approaches. The coding part of the basic subunit is interrupted by a 625-base pair A + T-rich intron whose boundaries correlate with the established consensus sequences for the exon-intron junctions. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of the basic subunit of pea legumin gene with that of the gene for A2B1a subunit reveals 70% homology in coding regions, although there is considerably less in the 3'-flanking regions.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Purification and characterization of mRNA from soybean seeds. Identification of glycinin and beta-conglycinin precursors.

Poly(A)-rich RNA was isolated from developing soybean seeds (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) and fractionated on linear log sucrose gradients. Two major fractions sedimenting at 18 S and 20 S were separated and then purified by further sucrose gradient fractionation. Both fractions were active as messengers when added to a rabbit reticulocyte lysate protein synthesis system. The 18 S fraction caused proteins migrating primarily to the 60,000-dalton region of a sodium dodecyl sulfate gel to be produced, while translation of the 20 S fraction preferentially directed the synthesis of polypeptides similar in size to the alpha and alpha' subunits of beta-conglycinin. Evidence that many of the 60,000-dalton polypeptides were related to glycinin and the high molecular weight 20 S translation products were related to beta-conglycinin was obtained by immunoprecipitation using monospecific antibodies against glycinin and beta-conglycinin, respectively. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis of the immunoprecipitated products revealed that the glycinin precursor region contained at least three different size components and that the family of glycinin precursors had larger apparent molecular weight (58,000-63,000) than the disulfide-linked complexes between acidic and basic glycinin subunits (57,000). Unlike the disulfide-linked glycinin complexes which were cleaved by disulfide reduction, glycinin precursors were insensitive to reducing agents. The alpha and alpha' subunits synthesized in vitro also had slightly larger apparent molecular weights than purified alpha and alpha' standards.

Animals↗