Pathogenesis of Alfalfa mosaic virus in soybean (Glycine max) and expression of chimeric rabies peptide in virus-infected soybean plants

Infection of soybean (Glycine max) plants inoculated with particles of Alfa lfa mosaic virus (A1MV) isolate 425 at 12 days after germination was monito red throughout the life cycle of the plant (vegetative growth, flowering, s eed formation, and seed maturation) by western blot analysis of tissue samp les. At 8 to 10 days after inoculation, the upper uninoculated leaves showe d symptoms of virus infection and accumulation of viral coat protein (CP). Virus CP was detectable in leaves, stem, roots, seedpods, and seed coat up to 45 days postinoculation (dpi), but only in the seedpod and seed coat at 65 dpi. No virus accumulation was detected in embryos and cotyledons at any time during infection, and no seed transmission of virus was observed. Soy bean plants inoculated with recombinant A1MV passaged from upper uninoculat ed leaves of infected plants showed accumulation of full-length chimeric A1 MV CP containing rabies antigen in systemically infected leaves and seed co at. These results suggest the potential usefulness of plants and plant viru ses as vehicles for producing proteins of biomedical importance in a safe a nd inexpensive manner. Moreover, even the soybean seed coat, treated as was te tissue during conventional processing for oil and other products, may be utilized for the expression of value-added proteins.