Artificial microRNA-mediated resistance to cucumber green mottle mosaic virus in Nicotiana benthamiana.

ABSTRACT

MAIN CONCLUSION: We describe a Nicotiana benthamiana system for rapid identification of artificial microRNA (amiRNA) to control cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) disease. Although artificial miRNA technology has been used to control other viral diseases, it has not been applied to reduce severe cucumber green mottle mosaic virus (CGMMV) disease and crop loss in the economically important cucurbits. We used our system to identify three amiRNAs targeting CGMMV RNA (amiR1-CP, amiR4-MP and amiR6-Rep) and show that their expression reduces CGMMV replication and disease in virus-infected plants. This work streamlines the process of generating amiRNA virus-resistant crops and can be broadly applied to identify active antiviral amiRNAs against a broad spectrum of viruses to control disease in diverse crops.