Disclosed are peptides that induce an active plant response, but not a hypersensitive response, when applied to plant tissue. These peptides also preferably exhibit improved solubility, stability, resistance to chemical degradation, or a combination of these properties. Use of these peptides or fusion polypeptides, or DNA constructs encoding the same, for modulating plant biochemical signaling, imparting disease resistance to plants, enhancing plant growth, imparting tolerance to biotic stress, imparting tolerance and resistance to abiotic stress, imparting desiccation resistance to cuttings removed from ornamental plants, imparting post-harvest disease or post-harvest desiccation resistance to a fruit or vegetable, or enhancing the longevity of fruit or vegetable ripeness are also disclosed.

In one aspect, nutraceutical compositions, methods of preparation and methods of use comprise a nutraceutical composition comprising an antimicrobial hevamine A-related protein from Momordica balsamina alone or in combination with one or more nutraceutical ingredients. In another aspect, a method of preventing or treating a microbial infection in a plant comprises applying an effective amount of a composition containing the hevamine A-related protein to a whole plant, plant part, or media in which the plant is growing. In a further aspect, the present application provides a transgenic plant stably transformed with a polynucleotide encoding the hevamine A-related protein.

The invention relates to nucleic acid molecules which impart resistance to rhizomania, in particular to Beet Necrotic Yellow Vein Virus (BNYVV) in a plant, in particular of the genus Beta, and to plants containing such nucleic acid molecules. The invention further relates to methods for producing such BNYVV resistant plants and to marker-based methods for identifying and selecting BNYVV resistant plants, as well as to methods for controlling infection with the pathogen BNYVV.

The present invention relates to a genetic determinant which may comprise at least two copies of a combination of two closely linked RDR1 genes, which two closely linked RDR1 genes are inversely oriented, and which genetic determinant leads to virus resistance when present in a plant. In one embodiment, of the RDR1 genes in the combination is represented by SEQ ID NO: 1 or has at least 70% sequence identity, and one of the RDR1 genes in the combination is represented by SEQ ID NO: 3 or has at least 70% sequence identity; or one of the RDR1 genes in the combination encodes a protein represented by SEQ ID NO: 2 or a protein that has at least 70% sequence identity, and one of the RDR1 genes encodes a protein represented by SEQ ID NO: 4 or a protein that has at least 70% sequence identity.

The present embodiments relate to elite event NS-B50027-4, seeds and oils obtained from NS-B50027-4, progeny derived from NS-B50027-4, the genetic and phenotypic characteristics of NS-B50027-4, and compositions and methods for the identification of elite event NS-B50027-4. In particular, NS-B50027-4 is a transgenic canola line capable of producing at least 5% DHA in its seed oil.

The present invention relates to a tomato, Solanum lycopersicum, plant that is resistant to Tobamovirus, wherein the plant comprises one or more genomic sequences conferring Tobamovirus resistance. More specifically the invention relates to a tomato plant that is resistant to Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus (TBRFV). The present invention further relates to a genomic sequence or locus providing resistance to Tobamovirus. In addition, the present invention relates to methods for proving a tomato plant that is resistant to Tobamovirus.

A method of producing a long dsRNA molecule in a plant cell that is capable of silencing a pest gene is provided, the method comprising: (a) selecting m a genome of a plant a nucleic acid sequence encoding a silencing molecule having a plant gene as a target, the silencing molecule capable of recruiting RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRp); and (b) modifying a nucleic acid sequence of the plant gene so as to impart a silencing specificity towards the pest gene, such that a transcript of the plant gene comprising the silencing specificity forms base complementation with said silencing molecule capable of recruiting said RdRp to produce the long dsRNA molecule capable of silencing the pest gene, thereby producing the long dsRNA molecule m the plant cell that is capable of silencing the pest gene.

Melon plants exhibiting resistance to Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) are provided, together with methods of producing, identifying, or selecting plants or germplasm with a ToLCNDV resistance phenotype. Such plants include melon plants comprising introgressed genomic regions conferring disease resistance. Compositions, including novel polymorphic markers for detecting plants comprising introgressed disease resistance alleles, are further provided.

The present invention relates to the control of pest infestation by inhibiting or reducing the expression of certain genes implicated in cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuD), by simultaneously targeting viral RNA involved in viral replication and movement. More specifically, the invention relates to a method for substantially simultaneously targeting the AC1 gene of a begomovirus and (2) the betasatellite and non-coding region. Strategies using small hairpin RNA (shRNA) constructs are described herein to achieve viral-mediated gene silencing, and an exemplary embodiment is disclosed, for targeting the replication-associated protein gene (AC1) and non-coding region found in numerous species and strains of the cotton leaf curl disease begomovirus complex, and a coding and adjacent non-coding region of the associated betasatellites. The constructs of the invention reduce or prevent replication of the disease-associated virus, and reduce or prevent the ability of a virus to suppress the defenses of the host plant. In an embodiment of the invention, a small interfering RNA construct referred to herein as an shRNA is disclosed. Also disclosed are transgenic cotton plants that are resistant to leaf curl virus disease.

Isolated cDNA sequences encoding for highly conserved domains of plant viral pathogen genomes. The cDNA sequences are selected from the group consisting of those listed in Table I (SEQ ID NOs: 1-68). cDNA fusion constructs or chimeric transgene constructs comprising at least two different cDNA sequences selected from the list in Table I, and more specifically cDNA corresponding to at least two different viruses is described, along with methods of creating transgenic plants with broad-spectrum, durable resistance to multiple viral pathogens using these cDNA sequences.