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Transgenic plants and control of virus diseases : state of the art and prospects. Volume 12, issue 1, janvier-février 2008

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Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva, New York 14456, Etats-Unis

Genetic engineering and the concept of pathogen-derived resistance have widened the horizons for virus disease control in plants by providing opportunities to create resistant cultivars. These approaches enable the isolation of viral gene fragments and their transfer into the plant genome in order to stimulate RNA silencing, a potent natural defense mechanism against plant viruses. Virus-resistant transgenic crops have been released twelve years ago in the United States of America with a good adoption rate. In spite of their potential to confer resistance through the antiviral pathways of RNA silencing, the use of viral gene sequences raised safety issues with regard to the impact of transgenic plants on human health and the environment. Safety assessment studies based on allergenicity predictions, viral epidemiology, and viral population dynamics provided new insights into limited, if any, risks beyond natural background events. Transgenic crops provide new avenues for the implementation of efficient control measures against plant viral diseases.