Engineered Resistance Against Papaya ringspot virus in Venezuelan Transgenic Papayas.

Local varieties of papaya grown in the Andean foothills of Mérida, Venezuela, were transformed independently with the coat protein (CP) gene from two different geographical Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) isolates, designated VE and LA, via Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The CP genes of both PRSV isolates show 92 and 96% nucleotide and amino acid sequence similarity, respectively. Four PRSV-resistant R0 plants were intercrossed or selfed, and the progenies were tested for resistance against the homologous isolates VE and LA, and the heterologous isolates HA (Hawaii) and TH (Thailand) in greenhouse conditions.