Local and systemic spread of tobacco mosaic virus in transgenic tobacco.

Expression of a chimeric gene encoding the coat protein (CP) of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in transgenic tobacco plants confers resistance to infection by TMV. We investigated the spread of TMV within the inoculated leaf and throughout the plant following inoculation. Plants that expressed the CP gene [CP(+)] and those that did not [CP(-)] accumulated equivalent amounts of virus in the inoculated leaves after inoculation with TMV-RNA, but the CP(+) plants showed a delay in the development of systemic symptoms and reduced virus accumulation in the upper leaves. Tissue printing experiments demonstrated that if TMV infection became systemic, spread of virus occurred in the CP(+) plants essentially as it occurred in the CP(-) plants although at a reduced rate. Through a series of grafting experiments, we showed that stem tissue with a leaf attached taken from CP(+) plants prevented the systemic spread of virus. Stem tissue without a leaf had no effect on TMV spread. All of these findings indicate that protection against systemic spread in CP(+) plants is caused by one or more mechanisms that, in correlation with the protection against initial infection upon inoculation, result in a phenotype of resistance to TMV.     

Isolation from tobacco mosaic virus-infected tobacco of a solubilized template-specific RNA-dependent RNA polymerase containing a 126K/183K protein heterodimer

The complete nucleotide sequence was determined for the putative RNA polymerase (183K protein) gene of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) OM strain, which differed from the related strain, vulgare, by 51 positions in its nucleotide sequence and 6 residues in its amino acid sequence. Three segments of this 183K protein, each containing the sequence motif of methyltransferase (M), helicase (H), or RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (P), were expressed in Escherichia coli as fusion proteins with hexahistidine tags, and domain-specific antibodies were raised against purified His-tagged M and P polypeptides. By immunoaffinity purification, a template-specific RNA-dependent RNA polymerase containing a heterodimer of the full-length 183K and 126K (an amino-terminal-proximal portion of the 183K protein) viral proteins was isolated. We propose that the TMV RNA polymerase for minus-strand RNA synthesis is composed of one molecule each of the 183- and 126-kDa proteins, possibly together with two or more host proteins.     

Replication of tobacco mosaic virus RNA

The replication of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA involves synthesis of a negative-strand RNA using the genomic positive-strand RNA as a template, followed by the synthesis of positive-strand RNA on the negative-strand RNA templates. Intermediates of replication isolated from infected cells include completely double-stranded RNA (replicative form) and partly double-stranded and partly single-stranded RNA (replicative intermediate), but it is not known whether these structures are double-stranded or largely single-stranded in vivo. The synthesis of negative strands ceases before that of positive strands, and positive and negative strands may be synthesized by two different polymerases. The genomic-length negative strand also serves as a template for the synthesis of subgenomic mRNAs for the virus movement and coat proteins. Both the virus-encoded 126-kDa protein, which has amino-acid sequence motifs typical of methyltransferases and helicases, and the 183-kDa protein, which has additional motifs characteristic of RNA-dependent RNA polymerases, are required for efficient TMV RNA replication. Purified TMV RNA polymerase also contains a host protein serologically related to the RNA-binding subunit of the yeast translational initiation factor, eIF3. Study of Arabidopsis mutants defective in RNA replication indicates that at least two host proteins are needed for TMV RNA replication. The tomato resistance gene Tm-1 may also encode a mutant form of a host protein component of the TMV replicase. TMV replicase complexes are located on the endoplasmic reticulum in close association with the cytoskeleton in cytoplasmic bodies called viroplasms, which mature to produce 'X bodies'. Viroplasms are sites of both RNA replication and protein synthesis, and may provide compartments in which the various stages of the virus mutiplication cycle (protein synthesis, RNA replication, virus movement, encapsidation) are localized and coordinated. Membranes may also be important for the configuration of the replicase with respect to initiation of RNA synthesis, and synthesis and release of progeny single-stranded RNA.     

应用RNAi技术培育抗2种病毒病的转基因烟草

分别提取烟草普通花叶病(TMV)和烟草黄瓜花叶病（CMV）的病毒RNA。经反转录和外壳蛋白阅读框PCR扩增,获得TMV和CMV外壳蛋白基因cDNA, 分别进行两种病毒已知株系cDNA序列比对获得各自的保守序列,设计干涉序列,将干涉片段扩增产物连接到pMD18-T的相邻酶切位点,制备融合序列,并将其正向和反向序列插入pUCCRNAi载体,再转化到pCAMBIA2300-35S-OCS表达载体中。利用农杆菌LBA4404侵染烟草K326,获得3份含有TMV和CMV外壳蛋白基因干涉序列的转化材料,经分子鉴定证实干涉序列已导入烟草,并采用荧光定量PCR技术对其mRNA表达差异进行分析。抗病性调查表明转化烟株对TMV和CMV抗性都显著增强。     

Transiently expressed short hairpin RNA targeting 126 kDa protein of tobacco mosaic virus interferes with virus infection

RNA-interference (RNAi) silences gene expression by'guiding mRNA degradation in asequence-specific fashion.Small interfering RNA (siRNA),an intermediate of the RNAi pathway,has beenshown to be very effective in inhibiting virus infection in mammalian cells and cultured plant cells.Here,wereport that Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transient expression of short hairpin RNA (shRNA) couldinhibit tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) RNA accumulation by targeting the gene encoding the replication-asso-ciated 126 kDa protein in intact plant tissue.Our results indicate that transiently expressed shRNA efficientlyinterfered with TMV infection.The interference observed is sequence-specific,and time-and site-dependent.Transiently expressed shRNA corresponding to the TMV 126 kDa protein gene did not inhibit cucumbermosaic virus (CMV),an unrelated tobamovirus.In order to interfere with TMV accumulation in tobaccoleaves,it is essential for the shRNA constructs to be infiltrated into the same leaves as TMV inoculation.Ourresults support the view that RNAi opens the door for novel therapeutic procedures against virus diseases.We propose that a combination of the RNAi technique and Agrobacterium-mediated transient expressioncould be employed as a potent antiviral treatment in plants.     

Effects of the tom1 mutation of Arabidopsis thaliana on the multiplication of tobacco mosaic virus RNA in protoplasts.

For the multiplication of RNA viruses, specific host factors are considered essential, but as of yet little is known about this aspect of virus multiplication. To identify such host factors, we previously isolated PD114, a mutant of Arabidopsis thaliana, in which the accumulation of the coat protein of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in uninoculated leaves of an infected plant was reduced to low levels. The causal mutation, designated tom1, was single, nuclear, and recessive. Here, we demonstrate that the tom1 mutation affects the amplification of TMV-related RNAs in a single cell. When protoplasts were inoculated with TMV RNA by electroporation, the percentage of TMV-positive protoplasts (detected by indirect immunofluorescence staining with anti-TMV antibodies) was lower (about 1/5 to 1/10) among PD114 protoplasts than among wild-type protoplasts. In TMV-positive PD114 protoplasts, the amounts of the positive-strand RNAs (the genomic RNA and subgenomic mRNAs) and coat protein reached levels similar to, or slightly lower than, those reached in TMV-positive wild-type protoplasts, but the accumulation of the positive-strand RNAs and coat protein occurred more slowly than with the wild-type protoplasts. The parallel decrease in the amounts of the coat protein and its mRNA suggests that the coat protein is translated from its mRNA with normal efficiency. These observations support the idea that the TOM1 gene encodes a host factor necessary for the efficient amplification of TMV RNA in an infected cell. Furthermore, we show that TMV multiplication in PD114 protoplasts is severely affected by the coinoculation of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) RNA. When PD114 protoplasts were inoculated with a mixture of TMV and CMV RNAs by electroporation, the accumulation of TMV-related molecules was approximately one-fifth of that in PD114 protoplasts inoculated with TMV RNA alone. No such reduction in the accumulation of TMV-related molecules was observed when wild-type protoplasts were inoculated with a mixture of TMV and CMV RNAs or when wild-type and PD114 protoplasts were inoculated with a mixture of TMV and turnip crinkle virus RNAs. These observations are compatible with a hypothetical model in which a gene(s) that is distinct from the TOM1 gene is involved in both TMV and CMV multiplication.     

两个缺陷型TMV粒子在烟草中的互补表达

根据对ＴＭＶ高效复制和基因表达的顺式作用元件的分析,在体外重组包装了２个缺失型ＴＭＶ粒子：ＴＭＶＲＰ和ＴＭＶＣＰ。前者缺失了ＴＭＶ外壳蛋白ＣＰ基因的３′端及后序区域,后者缺失了大部分复制酶基因。把两者分别或共同电击感染烟草原生质体：１．用ＣＰ抗体进行免疫印渍检测,单独感染的原生质体内的ＣＰ在１６小时内无增加,而在共同感染的原生质体内,ＣＰ在感染２小时后就开始明显增加。２．用ＲＴ一两次ＰＣＲ法专一地检测新生负链ＲＮＡ的合成情况,在单独感染的原生质体内没有检测到,但在混合感染的原生质体内在感染１小时后就检测到ＣＰ基因特异的负链ＲＮＡ的形成,并用Ｓｏｕｔｈｅｒｎ杂交得到进一步验证。这些结果表明,复制酶缺失型ＴＭＶＣＰ内的ＣＰ基因不能表达,但可以在ＴＭＶＲＰ存在时,通过其所表达的复制酶互补作用得到复制从而有效表达．     

Low sodium dodecyl sulfate concentrations inhibit tobacco mosaic virus coat protein amorphous aggregation and change the protein stability

Effects of low SDS concentrations on amorphous aggregation of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) coat protein (CP) at 52 degrees C and on the protein structure were studied. It was found that SDS completely inhibits the TMV CP (11.5 microM) unordered aggregation at the detergent/CP molar ratio of 15 : 1 (0.005% SDS). As judged by fluorescence spectroscopy, these SDS concentrations did not prevent heating-induced disordering of the large-distance part of the TMV CP subunit, including the so-called "hydrophobic girdle". At somewhat higher SDS/protein ratio (40 : 1) the detergent completely disrupted the TMV CP hydrophobic girdle structure even at room temperature. At the same time, these low SDS concentrations (15 : 1, 40 : 1) strongly stabilized the structure of the small-distance part of the TMV CP molecule (the four alpha-helix bundle) against thermal disordering as judged by the far-UV (200-250 nm) CD spectra. Possible mechanisms of TMV CP heating-induced unordered aggregation initiation are discussed.     

An umbraviral protein,involved in long-distance RNA movement,binds viral RNA and forms unique,protective ribonucleoprotein complexes

Umbraviruses are different from most other viruses in that they do not encode a conventional capsid protein (CP); therefore, no recognizable virus particles are formed in infected plants. Their lack of a CP is compensated for by the ORF3 protein, which fulfils functions that are provided by the CPs of other viruses, such as protection and long-distance movement of viral RNA. When the Groundnut rosette virus (GRV) ORF3 protein was expressed from Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in place of the TMV CP [TMV(ORF3)], in infected cells it interacted with the TMV RNA to form filamentous ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles that had elements of helical structure but were not as uniform as classical virions. These RNP particles were observed in amorphous inclusions in the cytoplasm, where they were embedded within an electron-dense matrix material. The inclusions were detected in all types of cells and were abundant in phloem-associated cells, in particular companion cells and immature sieve elements. RNP-containing complexes similar in appearance to the inclusions were isolated from plants infected with TMV(ORF3) or with GRV itself. In vitro, the ORF3 protein formed oligomers and bound RNA in a manner consistent with its role in the formation of RNP complexes. It is suggested that the cytoplasmic RNP complexes formed by the ORF3 protein serve to protect viral RNA and may be the form in which it moves through the phloem. Thus, the RNP particles detected here represent a novel structure which may be used by umbraviruses as an alternative to classical virions.     

Coat-protein-mediated resistance to tobacco mosaic virus: discovery mechanisms and exploitation

In 1986 we reported that transgenic plants which accumulate the coat protein of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) are protected from infection by TMV, and by closely related tobamoviruses. The phenomenon is referred to as coat-protein-mediated resistance (CP-MR), and bears certain similarities to cross protection, a phenomenon described by plant pathologists early in this century. Our studies of CP-MR against TMV have demonstrated that transgenically expressed CP interferes with disassembly of TMV particles in the inoculated transgenic cell. However, there is little resistance to local, cell-to-cell spread of infection. CP-MR involves interaction between the transgenic CP and the CP of the challenge virus, and resistance to TMV is greater than to tobamo viruses that have CP genes more distantly related to the transgene. Using the known coordinates of the three-dimensional structure of TMV we developed mutant forms of CP that have stronger inter-subunit interactions, and confer increased levels of CP-MR compared with wild-type CP. Similarly, it is predicted that understanding the cellular and structural basis of CP-MR will lead to the development of variant CP transgenes that each can confer high levels of resistance against a range of tobamoviruses.     

Mutants of tobacco mosaic virus with temperature-sensitive coat proteins induce heat shock response in tobacco leaves.

We analyzed, with respect to heat shock proteins (HSPs), systemically reacting tobacco leaves inoculated with Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), wild-type vulgare, and temperature-sensitive coat protein (CP) mutants Ni 118 (P20L) and flavum (D19A), kept at 23 or 30 degrees C. HSP18 and HSP70 mRNAs and proteins were induced with temperature-sensitive CP mutants after 1 to 2 days at 30 degrees C. After 4 to 6 days, HSP70 was also induced at 23 degrees C. The induction of HSPs paralleled the amount of insoluble TMV CP in leaf extracts, indicating that denatured TMV CP by itself induces a heat-shock response.     

An early tobacco mosaic virus-induced oxidative burst in tobacco indicates extracellular perception of the virus coat protein

Induction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was observed within seconds of the addition of exogenous tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) to the outside of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv Samsun NN, EN, or nn) epidermal cells. Cell death was correlated with ROS production. Infectivity of the TMV virus was not a prerequisite for this elicitation and isolated coat protein (CP) subunits could also elicit the fast oxidative burst. The rapid induction of ROS was prevented by both inhibitors of plant signal transduction and inhibitors of NAD(P)H oxidases, suggesting activation of a multi-step signal transduction pathway. Induction of intracellular ROS by TMV was detected in TMV-resistant and -susceptible tobacco cultivars isogenic for the N allele. The burst was also detected with strains of virus that either elicit (ToMV) or fail to elicit (TMV U1) N' gene-mediated responses. Hence, early ROS generation is independent or upstream of known genetic systems in tobacco that can mediate hypersensitive responses. Analysis of other viruses and TMV CP mutants showed marked differences in their ability to induce ROS showing specificity of the response. Thus, initial TMV-plant cell interactions that lead to early ROS induction occur outside the plasma membrane in an event requiring specific CP epitopes.     

Tritium planigraphy comparative structural study of tobacco mosaic virus and its mutant with altered host specificity.

Spatial organization of wild-type (strain U1) tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and of the temperature-sensitive TMV ts21-66 mutant was compared by tritium planigraphy. The ts21-66 mutant contains two substitutions in the coat protein (Ile21-->Thr and Asp66-->Gly) and, in contrast with U1, induces a hypersensitive response (formation of necroses) on the leaves of plants bearing a host resistance gene N' (for example Nicotiana sylvestris); TMV U1 induces systemic infection (mosaic) on the leaves of such plants. Tritium distribution along the coat protein (CP) polypeptide chain was determined after labelling of both isolated CP preparations and intact virions. In the case of the isolated low-order (3-4S) CP aggregates no reliable differences in tritium distribution between U1 and ts21-66 were found. But in labelling of the intact virions a significant difference between the wild-type and mutant CPs was observed: the N-terminal region of ts21-66 CP incorporated half the amount of tritium than the corresponding region of U1 CP. This means that in U1 virions the CP N-terminal segment is more exposed on the virion surface than in ts21-66 virions. The possibility of direct participation of the N-terminal tail of U1 CP subunits in the process of the N' hypersensitive response suppression is discussed.     

Studies of coat protein-mediated resistance to tobacco mosaic tobamovirus: correlation between assembly of mutant coat proteins and resistance.

Coat protein-mediated resistance (CP-MR) has been widely used to protect transgenic plants against virus diseases. To characterize the mechanisms of CP-MR to tobacco mosaic tobamovirus (TMV) we developed mutants of the coat protein that affected subunit-subunit interactions. Mutant CPs were expressed during TMV replication as well as in transgenic Nicotiana tabacum plants. The mutation T42-->W increased protein aggregation and T28-->W abolished aggregation and assembly, while the mutations T28-->W plus T42-->W and T89-->W altered normal CP subunit-subunit interactions. The mutant T28W was unable to assemble virus-like particles (VLPs) during infection and in transgenic plants failed to aggregate; this protein conferred no protection against challenge of transgenic plants by TMV. The mutant T42W had strong CP subunit-subunit interactions and formed VLPs but not infectious virions. Transgenic lines with this protein exhibited stronger protection against TMV infection than transgenic plants that contained the wild-type (wt) CP. It is proposed that increased resistance conferred by the T42W mutant results from strong interaction between transgenic CP subunits and challenge virus CP subunits. CP carrying the mutation T89-->W formed flexuous and unstable VLPs whereas the double mutant T28W:T42W formed open helical structures that accumulated as paracrystalline arrays. In transgenic plants, T89W and the double mutant CPs showed reduced ability to aggregate and provided lower protection against TMV infection than wt CP. A strong correlation between normal CP subunit-subunit interactions and CP-MR is observed, and a model for CP-MR involving interactions between the transgenic CP and the CP of the challenge virus as well as interference with virus movement is discussed.     

Milestones in the research on tobacco mosaic virus

Beijerinck's (1898) recognition that the cause of tobacco mosaic disease was a novel kind of pathogen became the breakthrough which eventually led to the establishment of virology as a science. Research on this agent, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), has continued to be at the forefront of virology for the past century. After an initial phase, in which numerous biological properties of TMV were discovered, its particles were the first shown to consist of RNA and protein, and X-ray diffraction analysis of their structure was the first of a helical nucleoprotein. In the molecular biological phase of research, TMV RNA was the first plant virus genome to be sequenced completely, its genes were found to be expressed by cotranslational particle disassembly and the use of subgenomic mRNA, and the mechanism of assembly of progeny particles from their separate parts was discovered. Molecular genetical and cell biological techniques were then used to clarify the roles and modes of action of the TMV non-structural proteins: the 126 kDa and 183 kDa replicase components and the 30 kDa cell-to-cell movement protein. Three different TMV genes were found to act as avirulence genes, eliciting hypersensitive responses controlled by specific, but different, plant genes. One of these (the N gene) was the first plant gene controlling virus resistance to be isolated and sequenced. In the biotechnological sphere, TMV has found several applications: as the first source of transgene sequences conferring virus resistance, in vaccines consisting of TMV particles genetically engineered to carry foreign epitopes, and in systems for expressing foreign genes. TMV owes much of its popularity as a research mode to the great stability and high yield of its particles. Although modern methods have much decreased the need for such properties, and TMV may have a less dominant role in the future, it continues to occupy a prominent position in both fundamental and applied research.     

A ribozyme gene and an antisense gene are equally effective in conferring resistance to tobacco mosaic virus on transgenic tobacco

Ribozymes of the hammerhead class can be designed to cleave a target RNA in a sequence-specific manner and can potentially be used to specifically modulate gene activity. We have targeted the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) genome with a ribozyme containing three catalytic hammerhead domains embedded within a 1 kb antisense RNA. The ribozyme was able to cleave TMV RNA at all three target sites in vitro at 25°C. Transgenic tobacco plants were generated which expressed the ribozyme or the corresponding antisense constructs directed at the TMV genome. Six of 38 independent transgenic plant lines expressing the ribozyme and 6 of 39 plant lines expressing the antisense gene showed some level of protection against TMV infection. Homozygous progeny of some lines were highly resistant to TMV; at least 50% of the plants remained asymptomatic even when challenged with high levels of TMV. These plants also displayed resistance to infection with TMV RNA or the related tomato mosaic virus (ToMV). In contrast, hemizygous plants of the same lines displayed only very weak resistance when inoculated with low amounts of TMV and no resistance against high inoculation levels. Resistance in homozygous plants was not overcome by a TMV strain which was altered at the three target sites to abolish ribozyme-mediated cleavage, suggesting that the ribozyme conferred resistance primarily by an antisense mechanism.