Rice Ragged Stunt Oryzavirus: role of the viral spike protein in transmission by the insect vector

A 39 kDa protein, known as the viral spike protein or one of the protein components forming the viral spike, encoded by genomic segment 9 (S9) of Rice Ragged Stunt Oryzavirus (RRSV) was obtained by enzymatic cleavage of a fusion protein expressed by S9 cDNA in bacteria with proteinase factor Xa. The feeding of an insect vector — the rice brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) on purified expressed 39 kDa protein before the inoculation of the insects on diseased rice plants could completely inhibit the vector transmission ability of the insect. The presence of a 32 kDa insect cell membrane protein which could bind to 39 kDa viral spike protein indicated that the inhibition might be resulted from the competition in the interactions of 39 kDa protein and intact virus with the virus receptors on the insect cells. These results suggest that the spike proteins of the plant reoviruses are essential for the virus infection in the interactions of virus, insect vectors and host plants. These results are also useful in the practical applications.