Animal genes help tomatoes
Worm and human antiapoptotic genes protect tomatoes from cold temperatures
and infection
By David Secko

Tomato plants expressing two animal antiapoptotic genes can better fend off
a common lethal virus and cold temperatures, researchers report in the early
edition of PNAS this week.

The work represents another step forward in the study of plant programmed
cell death (PCD), an essential process for plant growth and development,
according to senior author Marilyn Roossinck, from the Samuel Roberts Noble
Foundation. And for tomatoes, which are very sensitive to the cold and
harbor no known natural resistance to the virus used in the report, it
represents a potentially valuable agricultural method.

People are very excited by idea of a more cold-tolerant tomato plant,
Roossnick told The Scientist. "We are also very optimistic about being able
to sort out more details about PCD in plants with this system," she said.

Roossinck, lead author Ping Xu, and Stephanie Rogers began with a molecular
parasite of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), called D satRNA, which when present
together with CMV, kills tomatoes. "We were originally interested in this
small RNA molecule that induces a lethal disease in tomatoes," said
Roossinck. "We thought it was very curious that this little RNA molecule
could kill a plant."

Full Text at The Scientist
http://www.biomedcentral.com/news/20041026/01

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