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Updated: May 15, 2026
Arbovirus Infections As Screening Tools for the Identification of Viral Immunomodulators and Host Antiviral Factors
Published on: September 13, 2018
Virus-Induced NLR-Silencing Library-Based Screening to Identify Antiviral NLR Genes
Jiajia Lin1, Jianping Chen1, Fei Yan2
1State Key Laboratory for Quality and Safety of Agro-products, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA, Key Laboratory of Green Plant Protection of Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, China.
We developed a faster method to find disease-resistant plant genes using a combinatorial Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) library. This approach efficiently screens nucleotide binding and leucine-rich repeat-containing receptors (NLRs) for antiviral immunity.
Area of Science:
- Plant immunity
- Molecular genetics
- Virology
Background:
- Identifying disease-resistant nucleotide binding and leucine-rich repeat-containing receptors (NLRs) is crucial for plant breeding.
- Traditional methods for screening NLR genes are often laborious and time-consuming.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an efficient method for rapidly screening NLR genes conferring resistance to plant virus infection.
- To streamline the identification of key NLR receptors involved in antiviral plant immunity.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a pre-constructed combinatorial Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) library targeting 301 Nicotiana benthamiana NLR (NbNLR) genes.
- Generated 55 VIGS combinations (VIGS-com) by integrating fragments from 4-6 distinct NLRs into single VIGS vectors.
- Employed tobacco rattle virus (TRV)-mediated VIGS for rapid screening in Nicotiana benthamiana, using turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) as a model.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated an efficient and systematic approach for screening disease-resistant NLR genes.
- Successfully applied the TRV-mediated VIGS method for identifying NLRs involved in antiviral responses.
Conclusions:
- The combinatorial VIGS library provides a streamlined platform for functional genomics studies of NLRs.
- This method significantly accelerates the discovery of NLRs that enhance plant resistance to viral pathogens.
