In vitro-tested ribozyme against synthesized cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) RNA (Agric. Chem. & Biotech. 37:56-63(1994)) was expressed in tobacco plant to develop virus resistant plants. The ribozyme sequence was linked to cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter and nopaline synthase(nos) terminator and this chimeric 35S-ribozyme-nos gene was sequenced. The sequenced chimeric gene was transferred to Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404 using tri-parental mating system. The E. coli HB101 containing chimeric gene was incubated with E. coli HB101(pRK2073) as a helper and Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404. Then Agrobacterium cells containing the ribozyme construct was cocultivated with tobacco leaf pieces. Then different plants were regenerated from kanamycin containing MS medium. The presence of the ribozyme construct in the transgenic tobacco plants was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Seven different transgenic plants in ten different kanamycin resistant plants showed the expected size (570 base pairs) of 35S-ribozyme-nos gene fragment. Total RNAs were isolated from four different transgenic plants and separated on a 1% agarose gel containing formamide. Northern hybridization with 35S-ribozyme-nos gene fragment as a probe indicated that ribozyme transcripts may be degraded by nuclease. Therefore, nucleaseresistant ribozymes are needed for the development of virus-resistant transgenic plants using ribozymes.