ABSTRACT
Pectin methylesterase (PME), cell wall enzyme, is known as a factor of plant growth and morphogenesis. Recently, PME participation in gene silencing, plant virus reproduction and transgenesis was revealed. Here, the role of PME in antivirus resistance was studied. It has been shown that increasing PME enzymatic activity induced by additional PME gene and even empty vector resulted in suppression of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) reproduction including short- and long-distance virus movement in plant. We revealed increased PME activity in stably-transformed intact plants. For example, transgenic tobacco and N. benthamiana plants expressing TMV movement protein gene and GFP appeared increased PME activity. The tomato plants co-suppressing polygalacturonase gene have increased PME activity as well. Moreover, light-induced psbO gene activation was accompanied by transcription of PME gene. The introduction of foreign gene in plant cell or excess transcription of own genome resulted in increasing PME activity leading to transcriptome status quo returning.
