FunSynVIGS · Next-generation fungicides for crop protection based on artificial small RNAs derived from viral vectors

Plants are threatened by a plethora of pathogens, with fungi accounting for important crop and post-harvest losses worldwide. Despite widespread spraying of fungicides, losses keep rising in the current warming world and the increasing use of chemical (and toxic) fungicides favours the emergence of resistant fungi strains. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop a new generation of highly efficient and environmental-friendly fungicides for securing present and future food availability.Classic RNA interference (RNAi) tools based on double-stranded RNA have been used for inducing antifungal resistance in plants, despite their lack of high specificity. More modern and highly specific RNAi tools are based on artificial small RNAs (art-sRNAs). Art-sRNA tools have been optimized mainly for high efficacy and transgenic use but are not well adapted for GMO-free application and have not been used yet for inducing antifungal resistance in plants. FunSynVIGS seeks to develop a novel, GMO-free RNAi technology consisting in systemic, viral vector-based fungicides expressing art-sRNAs for plant immunization against pathogenic fungi. The specific objectives are:(1) The development and optimization of viral vector-based fungicides expressing art-sRNAs against Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of the gray mold disease, in the model plant species Nicotiana benthamiana.(2) The application of viral vector-based fungicides for immunizing tomato plants against B. cinerea.Successful completion of these objectives will provide a novel class of mobile RNAi-based fungicides for inducing highly efficient antifungal resistance in crops.