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Name the nematode that damages the roots of tobacco plants. How is a transgenic tobacco plant made resistant to nematode using biotechnology ? |
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Answer» Nematode - Meloidogyne incognita. A nematode Meloidogyne incognita infect the roots of tobacco plants and causes a great reduction in yield. RNAi takes place in all eukaryotic organisms as a method of cellular defence. This method involves silencing of a specific mRNA due to a complementary dsRNA molecule that builds to and prevents translation of the mRNA (silencing). (ii)Using Agrobacterium vectors, nematode-specific genes were introduced into the host plant. The introduction of DNA was such that it produces both sense and anti-sense RNA in the host cells. These two RNAs being complementary to each other formed a double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) that initiated RNAi and thus silenced the specific mRNA of the nematode. As a consequence the parasite could not survive in a transgenic host expressing specific interfering RNA. |
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