Dr Beachy’s talk whets Indian scientists’ interest

Dr Roger Beachy, who had pioneered the development of virus resistance in plants through the use of transgenic technology, alerted scientists to be smarter than the pest and pathogen. He made the remarks while delivering a lecture on `Coat protein mediated resistance to control plant viruses’ , organized by ABSPII South Asia Coordinators in Hyderabad on March 10.

Citing the example of Bt gene which did not provide resistance to cotton plants from diseases and had to be re-engineered, he said that the viruses are evolutionary and there is a need to understand their nature.

He felt Indian scientists have greater challenges to face due to the biodiversity and varied nature of viruses in India.

Dr Beachy, the president of Donald Danforth Plant Science Centre, USA, also spoke about the cloned TSV coat protein, transgenic tobacco plants produced and the TSV coat protein produced in E Coli.

He was optimistic that the regulatory bodies in India would deal positively about biotechnology.

Dr. Beachy and his co-workers discovered that insertion of the gene coding for viral coat protein (the outer layer of the virus which protects its genetic material) conferred to the plant resistance against virus attacks. Using this technology, he developed world's first transgenic food crop, a tomato resistant to infection by TMV and related viruses.

Popularly known as the coat protein technology, this was applied by research scientists at Cornell University, United States Agricultural Development Agency and private seed companies extensively to develop virus resistant papaya and cucurbits.

The coat protein (CP) would protect virus genetic information from degradation which otherwise is an inert protein. This way groundnut crop can be protected from the deadly virus by the application of this valuable CP technology.

It has been found while collecting tissue samples around India that the virus strains affecting groundnut and sunflower were similar to each other all over the country. Using recombinant DNA technology, the gene for coat protein was isolated and when introduced into the plant, it would produce virus protein. Thus, the plant will be resistant to infection when exposed to virus.


Dr DVR Reddy, consultant, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in USA, giving a brief introduction on the TSV problem in India, said that the culprit crop parthenium, which spreads TSV in the groundnut, can be uprooted with the concerted effort from the community members. For a long term measure, he suggested that the CP technology can help in providing resistance to the plants from the virus.


Mr K Vijayraghavan, Regional Coordinator, ABSPII , Cornell University, and Director of Sathguru Management Consultants, said that the damage to these crops due to pests and diseases is very severe and most important among them is the Tobacco Streak Virus. TSV infections cause necrosis in sunflower and stem necrosis in groundnut.

A viable alternative is to develop resistance using genetic engineering methods to confer ‘pathogen derived resistance’ and through the CP technology, millions of crops can be saved, he added.

Dr Beachy’s indication that the CP technology saved crops in millions of acres in the American region generated a great deal of interest among the Indian scientists who are seriously concerned about the TSV menace. The constant threat of TSV causes Indian farmers to suffer both financial and food insecurity. Since 1996, sunflower production has been massively hit by TSV, causing a reduction in the cultivated area from 2.7 million hectares in 1993 to 2.1 million hectares. In 2000, TSV epidemic in groundnut crops resulted in losses of more than US$65 million. Similar epidemic surfaced again in Ananthapur district of Andhra Pradesh in 2004. The combined losses to sunflower and groundnut crops are estimated to exceed US$90 million per annum. Now, the virus is found to be spreading in other crops all over the country.

Eminent scientists and research scholars from well known institutions in the country like Mahyco Research Foundation, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Co., ICRISAT , Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Hyderabad Central University, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture, Osmania University, etc., took part and had one-to-one interactions with him.

Dr Beachy’s address was also widely covered by various publications and electronic media, who would be of great help in disseminating the benefits of the technology to common masses and especially the farmers.