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SUMMARY:Cucumber mosaic virus influences plant defences against insects an
 d fitness of its transmission vector - Jack Westwood
DTSTART:20091211T130000Z
DTEND:20091211T133000Z
UID:TALK20711@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:15560
DESCRIPTION:Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) has the broadest host range of any
  plant virus\, being able to infect over 1200 plant species.  It is transm
 itted in a non-persistent manner by aphids and thus vector control is a ke
 y component of control strategies against this virus.  The 2b protein of C
 MV is well characterised as a suppressor of plant defences against viral i
 nfection\, including RNA silencing.  It is a multifunctional protein that 
 is also a symptom determinant as well as playing a crucial role in local a
 nd systemic movement of the virus through its hosts.  Recent evidence from
  our lab suggests that there may be an additional role for 2b as a mediato
 r of aphid transmission of CMV.  A microarray study which used transgenic 
 plants that constitutively expressed the 2b protein behind a 35S promoter 
 indicated that 2b perturbs the methyl-jasmonate (MeJA) defence pathway in 
 Arabidopsis thaliana.  This pathway is highly conserved and is induced in 
 response to wounding and herbivory.  Upon induction of this pathway there 
 is a significant upregulation of a large number of anti-insect genes and c
 ompounds.  There is a large body of evidence that shows that MeJA treatmen
 t can induce aphid resistance in a variety of different species.  Work pre
 sented here investigates the effect of CMV-infection and the 2b protein on
  aphids through monitoring of aphid feeding behaviour and performance and 
 finds that CMV induces resistance to aphids in infected plants.  
LOCATION:Department of Plant Sciences\, Large Lecture Theatre
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