PROSPECTS OF ENGINEERED FORMS OF RESISTANCE AGAINST TOMATO SPOTTED WILT VIRUS

Tomato spotted with virus (TSWV) is deviant from most other plant viruses in having (mainly) a negative-strand RNA genome and a lipid envelope, and in being propagatively transmitted by thrips. Due to increasing resistance of thrips to insecticides as well as to a relative shortage of natural resistance genes suitable for breeding, genetically engineered forms of resistance to TSWV infections are urgently needed. This review will discuss the recently approved strategy of N gene-mediated protection, which has been shown to hold even against thrips-mediated virus inoculation, as well as a number of potential strategies that are likely to be developed in the near future. © 1993 Academic Press. All rights reserved.