Methods and compositions reduce growth of Geminiviruses employing a compound with the following structure: ##STR00001## or a pharmaceutical salt. The invention inactivates viruses by attacking the zinc finger domain in plants through Picolinic Acid (PA) and then ejecting the Zn.sup.2+ from the zinc finger proteins (ZFPs). The PA and derivatives control viruses containing essential ZFPs. A Tandem Repeated Sequence (TRS) technology, denoted the Cassette TRS construct method, produces syngenic plants with increased virus resistance. This technology incorporates into the plant genome tandem repeated stable DNA coding for enzymes that produce PA or derivatives. The increased production of PA, induced by a TRS viral protein promoter present in the Cassette TRS construct, disrupts the viral ZFPs for replication. The syngenic plants with the cassette TRS construct are genetically stable, flower and seed producing, and capable of producing new TRS syngenic plants. The syngenic plants, in the environment like wild plants, remain edible.