Use of peptide aptamers, cationic peptides and artificial zinc finger proteins to generate resistance to plant viruses

- Perptides/proteins have given plants resistance to a variety of viruses.
- Peptide aptamers demonstrate tolerance to a wide range of virus species.
- Cationic peptides are effective against various pathogens including viruses.
- Artificial zinc finger proteins give plants immunity to geminiviruses.

Various RNA/DNA viruses have caused severe infectious diseases in plants as well as animals, including humans, and been a threat to the production of agricultural crops. Therefore, prevention of plant virus infections is a major objective in crop protection. One attractive approach is to inhibit functions of viral proteins responsible for virus infections. In this review, I describe the status using such approaches to confer virus resistance to plants by three types of peptides/proteins: peptide aptamers, artificial zinc finger proteins and acidic peptides. These approaches vary in their specificity, broadness to other viruses, extent of protection and mechanisms of action. Additional ways to improve these approaches are also discussed.