Development of a gene evaluation system using virus vectors in Prunus

Research Project

Project/Area Number	26850016
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Horticultural science
Research Institution	Kyoto University
Principal Investigator	KAWAI Takashi 京都大学, (連合)農学研究科(研究院), 助教 (90721134)
Project Period (FY)	2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
Keywords	果樹 / サクラ属 / ウイルスベクター / ジーンサイレンシング / 遺伝子機能評価 / 開花促進
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) has been used as a rapid and effective tool for functional analysis of genes in various plants. In this study, we assessed the VIGS efficiency of Apple latent spherical virus (ALSV) vectors in a wide range of Prunus species and cultivars. We found that ALSV vectors could successfully induce VIGS of endogenous PHYTOENE DESATURASE (PDS) genes in several cultivars of apricot, sweet cherry, and almond, although ALSV infectivity and VIGS efficiency seemed to vary depending on species and/or cultivar in Prunus. Further optimization of viral inoculation procedures and growth conditions for infected plants will lead to the full use of ALSV vectors for evaluation of gene functions or various practical studies in Prunus.