Method for modifying plants with a recombinant RNA molecule
Arjun Devang Khakhar, Fort Collins, CO (US); Barry Andrew Martin, Newport, RI (US); Yajie Niu, Lexington, MA (US); Fu Chyun Chu, Arlington, MA (US); Elizabeth Jane Antonelli Dennis, Putnam, CT (US); Mehmet Ali Halac, Philadelphia, PA (US); Yumeng Hao, Cambridge, MA (US); James Michael Kremer, Cambridge, MA (US); Jayashree Kumar, Somerville, MA (US); Shankar Raj Pant, Arlington, MA (US); and Aditya Sushil Kumar Singh, Brookline, MA (US)
Assigned to FLAGSHIP PIONEERING INNOVATIONS VII, LLC, Cambridge, MA (US)
Filed by FLAGSHIP PIONEERING INNOVATIONS VII, LLC, Cambridge, MA (US)
Filed on Nov. 14, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/948,087.
Application 18/948,087 is a continuation of application No. 18/700,801, previously published as PCT/US2022/078963, filed on Oct. 31, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/379,063, filed on Oct. 11, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/274,156, filed on Nov. 1, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2025/0075227 A1, Mar. 6, 2025
1. A method of increasing a plant's resistance and/or tolerance to a fungal pathogen, comprising introducing into a plant a recombinant RNA molecule comprising, in 5′ to 3′ order: (a) a bell pepper endornavirus (BPEV) 5′ replicase recognition sequence recognized by a BPEV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDRP); (b) a cargo RNA sequence comprising an RNA sequence that forms a double-stranded RNA which suppresses expression of at least one target gene of the fungal pathogen; and (c) a BPEV 3′ replicase recognition sequence recognized by the BPEV RDRP; wherein the cargo RNA sequence is heterologous to the BPEV 5′ and/or 3′ replicase recognition sequences; wherein the plant comprises the BPEV RDRP protein that recognizes the BPEV 5′ replicase recognition sequence and BPEV 3′ replicase recognition sequence, whereby the BPEV RDRP protein catalyzes synthesis of a synthetic endornaviral satellite RNA from the recombinant RNA molecule; and wherein the synthesis of the synthetic endornaviral satellite RNA comprising the cargo RNA sequence results in an increase in the plant's resistance and/or tolerance to the fungal pathogen relative to the resistance and/or tolerance to the fungal pathogen in a control plant lacking the recombinant RNA molecule.