Transactivation of dianthin transgene expression by African cassava mosaic virus AC2

We have recently described a novel strategy for engineering resistance to African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV) in transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana plants using a virus-inducible promoter to control the expression of a plant ribosome-inactivating protein (RIP) transgene (Y. Hong et al., Virology 220, 119-127, 1996). Here, we have used a potato virus X (PVX) vector to express the ACMV transactivator protein, AC2, in planta. We confirm that amplification of RIP activity in transgenic plants is mediated by AC2; disruption of AC2 expression by either the introduction of an in-frame stop codon or the deletion of 5'-terminal or 3'-terminal coding sequences reduced RIP expression to the basal level associated with PVX-infected plants. AC2 expression from the PVX vector induced necrosis in nontransformed plants as well as in plants containing the RIP transgene, suggesting that the protein can functionally interact with PVX and/or host factors. The potential of this system to provide a direct and sensitive assay to investigate AC2 function in planta is discussed.