In recent years a new subgroup of necrotic potato virus Y (PVY) isolates has spread in the Polish fields. To counter this infection, the PVY resistance was introduced into selected potato and tobacco cultivars. Plants were transformed by agroinfection with pROK2 derived binary plasmids, carrying an appropriate fragment of the PVY genome (patent applied for). Kanamycin resistant plants were screened by PCR for the presence of PVY cDNA inserts, positive transformants were tested for virus resistance by inoculation with sap from infected plants, followed by observations of disease symptoms and virus accumulation analysis. Several resistant potato and tobacco clones were identified and their phenotypes were preliminarily characterised.
A. Chachulska, Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Pawinskiego 5a, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland,fax: (48) 39 12 16 23 or (48) 658 46 36, e-mail: annach@ibbrain.ibb.waw.pl