Current Research

• Plant virology
• Plant-virus interactions
• Potato viruses

We aim to understand the role and function of virus encoded proteins and identify host factors required for virus infection and transmission principally in relation to the potato viruses potato mop-top (PMTV) and Y (PVY).  Soil-borne PMTV and aphid transmitted PVY are economically important problems in potato seed and ware crops that are difficult to control. No sources of resistance to PMTV have been identified in Solanum tuberosum and there are no reliable methods to control the spread of PMTV by the soil-borne plasmodiophorid vector Spongospora subterranea that also causes powdery scab disease on potato tubers. In addition, the application of insecticides to control the spread of aphid-borne potato potyviruses such as PVY is not effective. By studying plant-virus-vector interactions to identify host proteins that play important roles in the infection process and gaining a deeper understanding the mechanisms of virus transmission we hope to discover novel targets to develop host resistance and sustainable disease control methods.

News

New grant from Monsanto Fund on potato viruses and their aphid vectors.

Research History

Previously my group investigated novel antibody-based diagnostic techniques. In collaboration with others we showed that antibody fragments derived from naïve synthetic libraries of antibody genes can be incorporated into standard tests that detect the plant viruses Beet necrotic yellow vein virus and Potato leaf roll virus as well as tests based on immune reagents (these projects were funded by EC, AIR-CT-94-1046 and QLRT-1999-PL-1116).

Recent Publications

• Torrance, L., Lukhovitskaya, N.I., Schepetilnikov, M.V., Cowan, G.H., Ziegler, A. and Savenkov, E.I. 2009. Unusual Long-Distance Movement Strategies of Potato mop-top virus RNAs in Nicotiana benthamiana. Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 22, 381-390.
• Swanson, M.M., Fraser, G., Daniell, T.J., Torrance, L., Gregory, P.J. and Taliansky, M.E. 2008. Viruses in soils: morphological diversity and abundance in the rhizosphere. Annals of Applied Biology. (doi:10.1111/j.1744-7348.2009.00319.x)
• Torrance, L., Cowan, G.H., Gillespie, T., Ziegler, A. and Lacomme, C. 2006. Barley stripe mosaic virus-encoded proteins triple-gene block 2 and γb localize to chloroplasts in virus-infected monocot and dicot plants, revealing hitherto-unknown roles in virus replication. Journal of General Virology 87, 2403-2411.
• Torrance, L., Igor, A., Gabrenaite-Verhovskaya, R., Cowan, G., Mäkinen, K. and Taliansky, M.E. 2006. An unusual structure at one end of potato potyvirus particles. Journal of Molecular Biology 357, 1-8.
• Haupt, S., Cowan, G.H, Ziegler, A., Roberts, A.G., Oparka, K.J. and Torrance, L. 2005. Two plant-viral movement proteins traffic in the endocytic recycling pathway. Plant Cell 17, 164-181.
• Torrance, L. and Koenig, R. 2004. Genus Furovirus. In: Virus Taxonomy, eighth report of the international committee on taxonomy of viruses. Eds, van Regenmortel, M.H.V., Fauquet, C. and Bishop, D.H.L., Harcourt International.
• Cowan, G.H., Lioliopoulou, F., Ziegler, A. and Torrance, L. 2002. Subcellular localisation, protein interactions and RNA binding of Potato mop-top virus triple gene block proteins. Virology 298, 106-115.
• Baratova, L.A., Efimov, A.V., Dobrov, E.N., Fedorova, N.V., Hunt, R., Badun, G.A., Ksenofontov, A.L., Torrance, L. and Järvekülg, L. 2001. In situ Spatial Organization of Potato Virus A Coat Protein Subunits as Assessed by Tritium Bombardment. Journal of Virology 75, 9696-9702.
• Sasaya, T., Torrance, L., Cowan, G.H., Ziegler, A. 2000. Aphid transmission studies using Potato virus Y helper component proteins expressed from a Potato virus X vector. Journal of General Virology 81, 1115-1119.

Selected Publications - Virus Diagnostics

• Al-Mrabeh, A., Ziegler, A., Cowan, G. and Torrance, L. 2009. A fully recombinant ELISA using in vivo biotinylated antibody fragments for the detection of potato leaf roll virus. Journal of Virological Methods.
  
• Torrance, L., Ziegler, A., Pittman, H., Paterson, M., Toth, R and Eggleston, I. 2006. Engineering single-chain antibodies and oriented immobilisation for biosensor and biotechnological applications. Journal of Virological Methods 134 (1-2), 164-170.
• Torrance, L. 2005. Serological Methods. In Proceedings Bee Research and Virology in Europe (BRAVE) meeting, 24-26 April 2005, pp 109-114.
• Jones, A.T., Cowan, G.H., McGavin, W.J., Roberts, I.M. and Torrance, L. 2004. Production and properties of monoclonal antibodies to solanum nodiflorum mottle sobemovirus. Annals of Applied Biology 146, 321-325.
• Ziegler, A. and Torrance, L. 2002. Applications of recombinant antibodies in plant pathology. Molecular Plant Pathology 3, 401-407.
• Ziegler, A., Cowan, G.H., Torrance, L., Ross, H.A. and Davies, H.V. 2000. Facile assessment of cDNA constructs for expression of functional antibodies in plants using the potato virus X vector. Molecular Breeding 6, 327-335.
• Reavy, B., Ziegler, A., Diplexcito, J., Macintosh, S.M., Torrance, L. and Mayo, M. 2000. Expression of functional recombinant antibody molecules in insect cell expression systems. Protein Expression and Purification 18, 221-228.

Posters

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Attachment	Size
AFPTEST: Standard test kits based on novel recombinant antibodies for detection of harmful plant viruses	203.22 KB
Detection of Potato Mop-Top Virus in potato tissues and soil	134.22 KB
Multifunctional role of Potato mop-top virus movement protein TGB2	419.36 KB
Viruses in Soil	494.3 KB
TGB2 movement proteins of the Hordei type localise to chloroplasts	265.31 KB
Virus-like particles from Antarctic dry valley soil	915.72 KB
Caspase-resistant VirD2 protein provides enhanced gene delivery and expression in plants	409.12 KB
Environmental Change - Impacts on pests and Diseases	725.69 KB