Potato and tobacco cultivars transformation towards potato virus Y resistance

In recent years a new subgroup of necrotic potato virus Y (PVY) isolates has spread in thePolish fields. To counter this infection, the PVY resistance was introduced into selected potatoand tobaeeo cultivars. Plants were transformed by agroinfection with pROK2 derived binaryplasmids, carrying an appropriate fragment of the PVY genome (patent applied for). Kanamycinresistant 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 byobservations of disease symptoms and virus accumulation analysis. Several resistant potato andtobacco clones were identified and their phenotypes were preliminarily characterised.