Poster: Integrated Plant Biology

Abs # 93: Development of Integrative Systems to Study Gene Function in Nicotiana benthamiana

Presenter:	Kumagai, Monto H., monto@hawaii.edu
Authors	Kumagai, Monto H. (A)
Affiliations:	(A): University of Hawaii, Department of Molecular Biosciences & Bioengineering

We have developed autonomously replicating RNA viral vectors to overexpress enzymes and to systemically knockout endogenous genes. These vectors are derived from hybrid fusions of tobamoviruses and contain an additional subgenomic promoter for expression of foreign genes. Infectious RNA transcripts from cDNA clones can be passaged through packaging hosts to generate a viral inoculum for systemic transfection of field cultivars. High-level expression and accumulation of foreign proteins in plants occurs within two weeks post inoculation. Using this RNA viral vector system, we have conducted multiple USDA-approved outdoor field tests and have developed a technique to inhibit the expression of endogenous genes by delevering viral derived RNA to the plant cytoplasm. Direct manipulation of biochemical pathways by RNA viral vectors can be used to dramatically alter the synthesis and accumulation of secondary metabolites and agronomically important products. We will discuss the production of potential therapeutic drugs in transfected plants, tropical plant and marine organism est database, and the development of viral based functional genomic screens. We are involved in studying the global change in gene expression caused by viral derived expression or silencing of genes in transfected plants. We will describe the development of an integrated educational course in functional genomics, microarray technology, and bioinformatics.