Construction of Plant Expression Vectors and Identification of Transgenic Potato Plants

Potato virus X (PVX), potato virus Y (PVY) and potato leaf roll virus (PLRV) infection in potato may result in the loss of centrification of seed potatoes and affect the quality and yield of potatoes in agricultural production. The authors cloned coat protein (cp) genes of PVX, PVY and PLRV and constructed two kinds of plant expression vector which contain PVX and PVY or PVY and PLRV cp genes. Three major commercial cultivars of potato and one cultivar of tobacco were transformed via Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated procedure. Transgenic plants were confirmed by PCR analysis. Transgenic tobacco plants containing both PVX and PVY cp genes were significantly resistant to PVX and PVY infection via mechanical inoculation.