Banana (Musa sp.) is one of the most important crops in Egypt
which is reported to be the fourth country on the global level
as produces annuals (728,999) tons [1]. Banana productivity is
generally reduced by virus diseases; the most deleterious disease
which lemmatizes banana production is banana bunchy
top nanovirus (BBTV), the causal agent of banana bunchy
top disease (BBTD) [9].
The control of such viruses using insecticides and/or inspection
and rouging is ineffective. Production of virus-free banana
plants via tissue culture technique (TCT) or transgenic resistant
cultivars to such viruses would be the most effective
means for its control beside the classical means. In many situations
this strategy can delay the requirement to use chemical
control measures. Unfortunately, TCT will not eliminate all
banana viruses, therefore, transgenic varieties that are virus
resistance, based on virus-derived transgenes have been widely
demonstrated to be an effective strategy for control of such
viruses and could increase productivity and reduce inputs.
Classical breeding is difficult and not accurate enough for
transferring gene(s) to banana and this could be due to the
extremely complicated genetic system of Musa spp., i.e., different
genomic constitutions, heterozygosity, polyploidy, long
generation times, and sterility of edible clones [13]. Genetic
transformation, in conjugation with pathogen-derived resistance
[11] is one potential strategy for developing virus resistance
in bananas. One which has proven to be difficult to
obtain by conventional breeding [19].
This study was designed to carry out the following items,
(a) Preparation of a construct containing the BBTV DNA-3
encoding the open reading frame (ORF) of the viral coat protein
(CP). (b) Introducing the BBTV-cp-ORF gene into cv.
Williams of banana plants. (c) Detection of either presence
or expression of the introduced gene(s). (d) Regeneration of
the transformed banana plant materials. (e) Acclimatization
of the transformed banana plants.