BEIJING (ANTARA) – Chinese researchers have discovered a gene that can increase resistance to wheat yellow mosaic disease, which causes significant yield losses.
According to a report in China Science Daily on Monday (6/3), wheat yellow mosaic disease is common in China and is caused by a soil-borne virus known as wheat yellow mosaic virus (WYMV).
The best defense against this disease is cultivating resistant wheat varieties, so it is very important to study the gene pool with antiviral properties.
Researchers from the Institute of Crop Science under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) used genome-editing technology to make wheat-editing material by disabling the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E gene called TaeIF4E, as well as cultivating a single mutant variety, double, and triple.
This study found that after infection with WYMV, only the triple mutant variety showed total resistance to the virus and normal seed setting without a reduction in yield.
Meanwhile, single and multiple mutant varieties showed very stunted growth and lower seed setting.
The study proved that TaeIF4E participates in WYMV infection as a susceptibility factor gene, said the study, highlighting the potential of engineering virus resistance by genome editing of this gene among major wheat varieties.
The study is published in the journal Plant Biotechnology Journal.
