Strawberry vein banding virus-based vector for transient overexpression in strawberry plants

Abstract

AbstractStrawberry vein banding virus (SVBV) is a double-stranded DNA virus. In our previous studies, we generated an infectious clone of SVBV, pSVBV, which causes light-green vein banding symptoms along the leaf veins in strawberry plants (Fragaria vesca). In this study, we constructed pSVBV-P1-MCS and pSVBV-P4-MCS, two recombinant virus vectors containing a multiple cloning site (MCS) downstream of the SVBV-encoded movement protein gene (P1) and coat protein gene (P4), respectively. At 35 days post-inoculation, the two SVBV-based vectors could produce light-green vein banding symptoms on the systemic leaves of strawberry plants, indicating that they could successfully cause infection. Furthermore, the infectivity rates of the recombinant virus vectors pSVBV-P1-MCS and pSVBV-P4-MCS were similar to that of the wild-type infectious clone pSVBV, indicating that the insertion of MCS did not affect the infectivity of SVBV-based vectors. Additionally, we engineered SVBV as a transient overexpression vector, which could be used for the overexpression of exogenous green fluorescent protein in strawberry plants. Collectively, these SVBV-based vectors provide a new approach for the analysis of gene functions in strawberry plants.