The viral-induced banana bunchy top disease and the fungal-induced banana blight are two major causes of concern for industrial scale production of bananas. Banana blight is particularly troublesome, affecting ∼80% of crops worldwide. Strict guidelines and protocols are in place in order to ameliorate the effects of this devastating disease, yet little success has been achieved. In data presented here, we have found that Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV)-infected bananas were more resistant to F. oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc). BBTV appears antagonistic towards Foc, thus improving the survivability of plants against blight. The BBTV suppressor of RNA silencing, namely protein B4, displayed fungicidal properties... More
The viral-induced banana bunchy top disease and the fungal-induced banana blight are two major causes of concern for industrial scale production of bananas. Banana blight is particularly troublesome, affecting ∼80% of crops worldwide. Strict guidelines and protocols are in place in order to ameliorate the effects of this devastating disease, yet little success has been achieved. In data presented here, we have found that Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV)-infected bananas were more resistant to F. oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc). BBTV appears antagonistic towards Foc, thus improving the survivability of plants against blight. The BBTV suppressor of RNA silencing, namely protein B4, displayed fungicidal properties in vitro. Furthermore, transgenic tomatoes expressing GFP-tagged protein B4 demonstrated enhanced resistance to F. oxysporum f.sp. lycopersici (Fol). Differential gene expression analysis indicated that increased numbers of photogenesis-related gene transcripts were present in dark green leaves of B4-GFP-modified tomato plants relative to those found in WT plants. Conversely, transcript abundance of immunity-related genes was substantially lower in transgenic tomatoes compared to the WT plants, suggesting that plant defenses may be influenced by protein B4. This viral-fungal interaction provides new insight into microbial community dynamics within a single host and has potential commercial value for breeding transgenic resistance to Fusarium related blight/wilt.
