NICOTIANA BENTHAMIANA AS A MODEL ORGANISM FOR STUDIES ON THE VIRAL COMPLEX THAT CAUSES PAPAYA STICK DISEASE
Name: ESDRAS MENDES DA CUNHA
Publication date: 25/03/2024
Examining board:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| ANTONIO ALBERTO RIBEIRO FERNANDES | Advisor |
Summary: The papaya tree (Carica Papaya L.) is a plant native to the Americas and due to the economic value of papaya, the plant is produced in tropical areas around the world. Brazil is the second largest papaya producer in the world, producing more than 1 million and 235 thousand tons of the fruit in 2020. One of the viruses that plague producers is papaya meleira, which is caused by a viral complex, Papaya meleira virus and Papaya meleira virus 2. This work aims to establish the Nicotiana benthamiana plant as a model organism for future studies with the PMeV and PMeV2 viruses, the viral complex that causes papaya honey. Nicotiana benthamiana is the most widely used experimental host in plant virology, mainly due to the large number of diverse plant viruses that can successfully infect it and the speed at which data become accessible compared to other plants. Being an ideal model organism to investigate various aspects of viral pathogenesis. Working with Carica papaya presents significant challenges due to its biological complexity, especially related to its pre- and post-flowering time, with a flowering period that can take from four to seven months. Although it is not yet characterized as a host for honey viruses, N. benthamiana in fact accumulates viral loads for sixty days, as occurs with longer-established viruses. During the entire period of sixty days after inoculation, infection levels are considerable to establish N. benthamiana as a host. The results obtained in this work indicate that N. benthamiana is a reliable model organism for future gene silencing studies in order to establish ways to control papaya stick disease.
