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[SANET-MG] attack of the killer tomatoes



A plant virus that attacks humans is a probable outcome of the genetic
manipulation of plant viruses or combinations of plant and animal virus
components as in the vaccine producing pharm crops. The article below
shows that modified plant viruses may attack humans. It is worth
mentioning that the "expert" reviews of GM food crops and pharm crops
has dismissed the possibility of producing viruses that attack both
plants and animals. We shall have to think twice about what is being
planted in the neighbors corn field.
Published online before print January 18, 2005
Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 10.1073/pnas.0406668102

Microbiology
Expression of a viral polymerase-bound host factor turns human cell
lines permissive to a plant- and insect-infecting virus
( bunyavirus | Frankliniella occidentalis | replication | Tomato spotted
wilt tospovirus )

Ricardo B. de Medeiros *, Juliana Figueiredo *, Renato de O. Resende ,
and Antonio C. De Avila
Departamentos de *Fitopatologia e Biologia Celular, Universidade de
Brasilia, Brasilia-DF 70910, Brazil; and Centro de Hortaliças, Empresa
Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, asilia-DF 70359, Brazil

Edited by Paul Ahlquist, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, and
approved December 14, 2004 (received for review September 9, 2004)

Tospoviruses are the only plant-infecting members of the Bunyaviridae
family of ambisense ssRNA viruses. Tomato spotted wilt tospovirus
(TSWV), the type-member, also causes mild infection on its main insect
vector, Frankliniella occidentalis. Herein, we identified an F.
occidentalis putative transcription factor (FoTF) that binds to the TSWV
RNA-dependent RNA polymerase and to viral RNA. Using in vitro RNA
synthesis assays, we show that addition of purified FoTF improves viral
replication, but not transcription. Expression of FoTF deletion mutants,
unable to bind the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase or viral RNA, blocks
TSWV replication in F. occidentalis cells. Finally, expression of FoTF
wild-type turns human cell lines permissive to TSWV replication. These
data indicate that FoTF is a host factor required for TSWV replication
in vitro and in vivo, provide an experimental system that could be used
to compare molecular defense mechanisms in plant, insect, and human
cells against the same pathogen (TSWV), and could lead to a better
understanding of evolutionary processes of ambisense RNA viruses.




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