Patent ID: 7091397

Claim:
An isolated transgenic plant cell comprising a foreign nucleic acid molecule stably integrated into the genome, wherein the nucleic acid molecule is a nucleic acid molecule encoding a polypeptide having the enzymatic activity of an RNA-directed RNA polymerase (RdRP), selected from the group consisting of: (1) a nucleic acid molecule coding for a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 2; (2) a nucleic acid molecule comprising the coding region of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1; and (3) a nucleic acid molecule that specifically hybridizes to a complementary strand of the nucleic acid molecule as defined in (1) or (2) in 0.25 M NaHPO 4 pH 7.2; 0.25 M NaCl, 7% SDS, 1 mM EDTA, 50% formamide and 5–20% (w/v) polyethylene glycol (M r 6–7.5×10 3 ) at 42° C. for 4–24 hours followed by washing once in 2×SSC at room temperature, and twice in 0.25 M NaHPO 4 , 2% SDS, 1 mM EDTA at 65° C., said specifically hybridizing nucleic acid being more than 90% identical to the coding region of SEQ ID NO: 1; wherein said nucleic acid molecule is linked to regulatory elements such that the nucleic acid is expressed in plant cells.