Effective defense strategy deployed by a resistant tomato cultivar

Effective defense strategy deployed by a resistant tomato cultivar against Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus unravelled by scientists of National Institute of Plant Genome Research.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021

Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) infection causes severe losses in tomato yield worldwide.

Lack of information on resistance (R) genes against ToLCNDV has considerably retarded the pace of crop improvement against this rapidly spreading pathogen. Several attempts have been made to identify antiviral genes against ToLCNDV and related viruses.

Scientists from DBT Autonomous Institution, National Institute of Plant Genomics Research (NIPGR) report an effective defense strategy deployed by a resistant tomato cultivar against ToLCNDV.

It employs Sw5a (R gene) that recognizes AC4 protein (viral effector) of ToLCNDV to restrict virus spread. These findings could be translated into development of resistance in susceptible cultivars of tomato through modern breeding or molecular approaches.