Evaluation of two gene-silencing constructs for resistance to tomato yellow leaf curl viruses in Nicotiana benthamiana plants.

Infiltration of Agrobacterium tumefaciens into intact plant leaves of N. benthamiana was used to test the efficiency of two virus-based silencing constructs conferring resistance to the closely related begomoviruses. The constructs contained the most conserved sequences of the coat protein (CP) gene and replication-associated protein (Rep) gene of Tomato yellow leaf curl Sardinia virus (Sicily strain) (TYLCSV-[Sic]). Both constructs formed a hairpin structure that enhanced the post-transcriptional gene-silencing mechanism. When agro-infiltrated plants were challenged separately with infectious viruses TYLCSV-[Sic] and Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), the plants showed resistance to TYLCSV-[Sic], but not to the related TYLCV.