Patent ID: 8053632

Claim:
A method of controlling a genetically-modified plant, comprising: (a) providing a genetically-modified transgenic plant, whereby cells of said genetically-modified plant contain a heterologous nucleic acid and whereby said genetically-modified plant is inactive with regard to a cellular process of interest, and (b) switching on said cellular process of interest by directly introducing a polypeptide from a cell-free composition into cells of said transgenic plant containing said heterologous nucleic acid, wherein said polypeptide and said heterologous nucleic acid are mutually adapted such that said polypeptide is capable of switching on said cellular process of interest; wherein said polypeptide comprises a covalently bound membrane translocation sequence enabling the direct introduction of said polypeptide into cells containing said heterologous nucleic acid; said polypeptide having an enzymatic activity of an enzyme selected from the group consisting of a site-specific recombinase and an integrase; wherein said cellular process of interest comprises formation of an expressible RNA amplicon from said heterologous nucleic acid by the enzymatic activity of said polypeptide; said RNA amplicon encoding an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase for amplifying said RNA amplicon and being capable of cell-to-cell or systemic movement in said plant.