The ”Plant-pathogens interactions lab” is the only one in Estonia doing research on plant viruses. In addition, we are also involved in plant molecular biology projects. We will present some of our ongoing research related to both aspects.

During the past 25 years, our group has studied several aspects of molecular biology of sobemoviruses, with the main research focus on cocksfoot mottle virus, a grass-infecting sobemovirus from temperate climate zone. In parallel, we have initiated field surveys using high-throughput sequencing to identify cereal and grass-infecting viruses spread in Estonia. Our findings indicate the presence of several known, unknown or for years “forgotten” viral pathogens.

ABCE genes are highly conserved. We exploited released plant genome data and analysed the ABCE gene sequences from 87 plant species. Arabidopsis thaliana encodes two paralogous ABCE proteins. One of them, AtABCE2, has ubiquitous expression pattern and functions as a suppressor of RNA silencing. We studied the structural requirements of AtABCE2 for RNA silencing suppression. Our results suggest that AtABCE2 might suppress RNA silencing via supporting RNA degradation mechanisms associated with ribosome recycling.

Finally, we will shortly introduce our new project related to gene editing in perennial ryegrass, an important forage species.