Viral amplification of recombinant messenger RNA in transgenic plants
AssigneeLarge Scale Biology Corporation
InventorThomas H. Turpen
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Abstract
A novel method of over expressing genes in plants is provided. This method is based on the RNA amplification properties of plus strand RNA viruses of plants. A chimeric multicistronic gene is constructed containing a plant promoter, viral replication origins, a viral movement protein gene, and one or more foreign genes under control of viral subgenomic promoters. Plants containing one or more of these recombinant RNA transcripts are inoculated with helper virus. In the presence of helper virus, the recombinant transcripts are replicated producing high levels of foreign gene RNA.
Claims11
A method of expressing a foreign gene product in a plant cell, the method comprising:
- providing a chromosomally integrated transgene in a plant cell, wherein the transgene comprises a replicon having a plus sense RNA viral replication origin and at least one foreign gene capable of expression in a plant or a plant cell, wherein said replicon is transcribed from a promoter, and wherein said replicon is dependent for replication on a helper virus;
- providing the helper virus, wherein the helper virus comprises a plus sense RNA viral replicase;
- transcribing the transgene using a host RNA polymerase II to form recombinant mRNAs comprising the replicon;
- replicating the recombinant mRNAs with the plus sense RNA viral replicase, thereby producing additional replicon components;
- and
- producing subgenomic mRNA from the additional replicon components, thereby expressing the foreign gene product in the plant cell.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.