Coat protein gene-mediated resistance to soybean mosaic virus in transgenic soybean

Somatic embryos of Glycine max (L.) Merrill cultivar 'Jack' were co-transformed with coat protein (CP) gene of attenuated isolates of soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and hygromycin phosphotransferase (hpt) gene by means of microprojectile bombardment. These transformed embryogenic tissues were selected in hygromycin-containing liquid medium. The hygromycin-resistant embryogenic tissues obtained through the selection were regenerated, and CP gene was detected in the 11 transgenic plants out of them. In order to assess their resistance to SMV, mechanical inoculation was performed in T-1 generation. The disease symptom was examined visually and confirmed by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Finally we obtained three independent lines highly resistant to SMV. This is the first report of the soybean plants that were conferred a high resistance to SMV by the transformation with CP gene of the SMV attenuated isolates. In these three lines, the presence of transgene transcript was confirmed by Northern blot analysis, and the transgene product was detected in two of them by Western blot analysis.