Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) Biology, Management, and Relevance to GM Plant Detection for Sustainable Organic Agriculture

Abstract

In today's global market, some organic farmers must meet regulatory requirements to demonstrate that their plants and feedstocks are genetically modified organism (GMO)-free. Many GM plants are engineered to contain a promoter from the plant virus, Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV), in order to facilitate expression of an engineered target gene. The relative ubiquity of this CaMV 35S promoter (P35S) in GM constructs means that assays designed to detect GM plants often target the P35S DNA sequence, but these detection assays can yield false-positives from plants that are infected by naturally-occurring CaMV or its relatives within the Caulimoviridae. This review places CaMV infection and these ambiguous GM plant detection assays in context, serving as a resource for industry professionals, regulatory bodies, and researchers at the nexus of organic farming and global commerce. We first briefly introduce GM plants from a regulatory perspective, and then we describe CaMV biology, transmission, and management practices, highlighting the relatively widespread nature of CaMV infection in both GM and non-GM crops within the Brassicaceae and Solanaceae families. Finally, we discuss current knowledge of public food safety related to the consumption of CaMV-infected produce.

A CRISPR‐based lateral flow assay for plant genotyping and pathogen diagnostics

“…These results confirm that the Bio-SCAN platform can be used as a cost-effective field-deployable easy detection system that can fulfil the requirements of quick screening of GMOs for public concerns and food security established by governments worldwide (Bak and Emerson, 2020;Christensen and Quail, 1996).…”

Virus diversity in metagenomes of a lichen symbiosis (Umbilicaria phaea): complete viral genomes, putative hosts and elevational distributions

“…Our results, together with the report by Petrzik et al (2015) of CaMV in T. aggregata, photobiont of the globally distributed lichen species X. parietina, suggest that lichen photobionts are common, natural hosts for these plant-associated viruses. The U. phaea caulimovirus-like 1 identified in our study was predicted to encode for two genes that matched to the ORF V of CaMV, a common pathogen that infects plants in the Brassicaceae family and is transmitted by aphids as animal vectors (Amack and Antunes, 2020;Bak and Emerson, 2020). The CaMV encodes a transcriptional promoter (CaMV 35s promoter) that is used extensively to overexpress genes in plants, based on its insensitivity to endogenous plant signals when used as a heterologous promoter (Wu et al, 2014;Amack and Antunes, 2020).…”

Pathogenic viruses and viral vectors in plants: A comprehensive review

“…[24] e. Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) is a member of the genus Caulimovirus belongs to the Caulimoviridae family of circular, double-stranded DNA viruses. The CaMV belongs to the group of pararetroviruses and it is one of the six genera that cause infection of Brassicaceae family members, including turnip, canola, radish, mustard, cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage [27].…”