CUCUMBER MOSAIC VIRUS RESISTANCE IN TRANSGENIC SAN MARZANO TOMATOES

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) has been the causative agent of a severe disease in Southern Italy since 1987. The research for natural resistance sources in Lycopersicon spp, is still under way. We have transformed San Marzano tomato lines with a chimeric gene whose transcript is the benign satellite RNA named Ra. Massive production of satellite and attenuation of symptoms have been observed in transformed plants infected with a satellite-free CMV strain. Transformed plants were also tested for agronomical traits in a contained (aphid-proof) environment: preliminary results show that transgenic tomatoes have higher yields than control plants in presence of the infection, and that qualitative determinants are unchanged following the Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation.