Infectivity suppressing and virus-binding activities of a membrane material isolated from tobacco leaves.

TMV binding substance (R) was isolated from a tobacco leaf membrane fraction and was purified by extraction with organic solvents and by column chromatography. Experimental results suggest that the binding of R with TMV results in inactivation of TMV. When tobacco leaves were inoculated with the R-TMV complex, it was found that the formation of polysome containing infecting viral RNA was inhibited. Model experiments showed that the mode of R-TMV adsorption to the membrane is different from that of TMV adsorption and that stripping of coat protein from TMV by SDS was inhibited by R. A possible explanation for the mechanism of this inhibition by R is that the R-TMV complex follows a pathway which does not lead to establishment of infection. Although less efficient, R was still active when it was applied after virus inoculation. Due to its affinity to coat protein, R might also interfere with a later process of viral multiplication.     

Ribonucleic acids of healthy and tobacco mosaic virus infected tobacco leaves

A comparison between RNA content and RNA base composition of comparable tobacco mosaic virus infected and non-infected but water-rubbed leaves of Nicotiana tabacum var. Samsun was made from 0 to 32 h after inoculation. The amount of RNA in the infected leaves increased in the period of 2 to 9 h after inoculation, whereas at the same time the RNA content of the water-rubbed controls decreased. The increase amounted to about 25 %, the decrease to about 30 %. Between 13 and 23 h following inoculation, the RNA content of both infected and non-infected leaves changed back nearly to the level measured at zero-time and then rose again in the infected leaves. In spite of the considerable increase in RNA content in the infected leaves between 2 and 9 h after inoculation there was no remarkable shift in the base composition of the RNA from the C-G type of normal leaf RNA to the A-U type of tobacco mosaic virus RNA, as could be demonstrated in later stages of infection.     

The behaviour of tomato golden mosaic virus DNA in cultured cells isolated from systemically infected tobacco leaves

When callus tissue was cultured from leaf pieces taken from a Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi nc. plant systemically infected with tomato golden mosaic virus (TGMV), TGMV-specific DNA persisted for up to 6 months in culture. Analysis of TGMV-specific intracellular DNA forms indicated a decrease in double-stranded relative to single-stranded forms and an increase in sub-genomic relative to genomic single-stranded DNA species in the callus tissue compared to those in the original leaf explant. The implications of the results with regard to TGMV replication are discussed.     

Photosynthetic electron transport in tobacco leaves infected with tobacco mosaic virus

Tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Samsun) plants inoculated with different strains of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) inducing mosaic symptoms of widely varying severity were studied with in vivo chlorophyll fluorescence. This method was used to deduce photosynthetic electron transport efficiency in relation to symptom expression. The quantum yields of photosystem II (PS II) electron transport rate were significantly diminished in virus strains inducing loss of chlorophyll. The reduction in young mosaic-diseased leaves appeared to be due in part to a reduction in the fraction of open reaction centers, whereas in older leaves exhibiting less pronounced symptoms the reduction was mainly caused by a reduced efficiency of capture of excitation energy of open PS II reaction centers. Upon infection with any of the five virus strains PS II seemed to be irreversibly damaged in the inoculated leaves and the ones directly above, indicative of a possible increased susceptibility to photoinhibition in these leaves (Somersalo and Krause 1989) even when no symptoms were apparent. Symptom expression did not appear to be related to the influence of the virus on PS II activity, because the severest effects occurred in the inoculated leaves, which either remained symptomless or developed slight yellowing only. This study demonstrates the usefulness or modulated chlorophyll fluorescence measurements for the investigation of plant-virus interactions. It is particularly important when visual symptoms are absent.     

Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase levels in protoplasts isolated from hypersensitive tobacco pre-infected with tobacco mosaic virus

Leaves of tobacco varieties carrying the N gene for hypersensitiviy react to tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infection by forming necrotic lesions and by localizing the virus in the vicinity of these lesions. These changes are accompanied in the host by an increased metabolic activity, in particular by an increased production of phenolic compounds derived from phenylalanine. Necrogenesis apparently destroys cells which have become heavily infected despite this strong defense reaction. However, it has been demonstrated previously (Otsuki et al., 1972) that protoplasts derived from leaves which normally respond in vivo to virus inoculation by forming necrotic local lesions, show no such response when inoculated in vitro. In the present study we have investigated the effect of pre-infecting hypersensitive leaves with TMV on the production or the non-production of the factor(s) of necrosis at the level of either protoplasts or mesophyll cells isolated from these preinfected leaves. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL), whose rate of synthesis has been shown (Duchesne et al., 1977) to increase in stimulated cells of infected leaves, was used as a biochemical marker in the search for the stimulus preceding necrogenesis. We found that this stimulus concerning PAL activity was never elicited in either protoplasts or mesophyll cells which were prepared just before the appearance of necrotic local lesions. This result did not depend on the conditions of pre-infection or on the methods used to isolate the protoplasts or mesophyll cells. We also assayed samples derived from pre-infected leaves that were already carrying local lesions, i.e., in which the stimulus and necrogenesis were already operating: not only did the isolated protoplasts and mesophyll cells not sustain the stimulus concerning PAL activity, but the stimulated enzyme activity decreased abruptly and, in most of the experiments, had disappeared within the time necessary for maceration. Evidence is presented showing that the non-elicitation or the abrupt decrease of stimulated PAL activity could not result from a selection of unstimulated cells or from a preferential destruction of stimulated cells during maceration of the leaves.Our results support the view that hypertonic osmotic pressure is responsible for the non-occurence of the hypersensitive response by acting according to one or both of the following processes: it suppresses the contacts through plasmodesmata between neighboring cells and, hence, it also suppresses the cell-to-cell diffusion of the factor(s) eliciting the stimulus; and/or since hypertonic osmotic pressure causes striking differences between leaf cells and protoplasts in total RNA and protein synthesis, these differences might include the suppression of synthesis of the elicitor of hypersensitivity.Abbreviations OMT O-methyltransferase - PAL phenylalanine ammonia-lyase - TMV Tobacco mosaic virus     

Assembly of tobacco mosaic virus.

The assembly of tobacco mosaic virus requires the presence of a particular protein aggregate, the disk. During the nucleation, a specific region of the RNA interacts with a single disk, to bring about a necessarily cooperative transition from the paired two-layer structure to a short segment of nucleo-protein helix. There is a high selectivity for this region of the TMV RNA, because of the many nucleotides bound at once, and other nucleotide sequences appear only to bind by a different mechanism. Elongation of the nucleated rods can continue with either further disks or the less aggregated 'A-protein' as the protein source, but the continued cooperativity inherent with disks would have some advantages. The rates of the two processes have been separately determined and growth is faster when disks are still present. New experiments show that the breakdown of disks to yield A-protein is relatively slow and it is concluded that virus growth from disks could not proceed through a prior breakdown in solution, but must involve the direct interaction of the disk with the growing nucleoprotein rod. The detailed mechanism of disk addition is not understood but it may involve a directed breakdown, since there is also evidence for the existence of a non-equilibrium form of A-protein which has aggregation kinetics distinct from those of equilibrium A-protein. Some implications for the general assembly pathways of viruses both of the specificity and of the assembly/disassembly cycle during the viral infection are considered.     

Dark and light green tissues of tobacco leaves systemically infected with tobacco mosaic virus

There are significant changes in the structure of the upper tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) leaves systemically infected with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) especially in the light green tissue (LGT). Dark green areas (DGI) had intermediate status between healthy tissue and LGT. DGI contained significantly less infectious TMV and viral antigen than the LGT. The DGI, LGT and healthy tissues did not differ in the permeability of cell membranes and in the set of acidic pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins but the total content of PR-proteins in the healthy plants was higher than in the infected ones with the DGI being intermediate between healthy tissue and LGT. The crude leaf extracts from DGI and LGT showed less total ribonuclease activity and ribonuclease isozymes in comparison with control.     

Complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of tobacco mosaic virus isolated from Viciafaba

Based on reported TMV-U1 sequence, primers were designed and fragments covering the entire genome of TMV broad bean strain (TMV-B) were obtained with RT-PCR. These fragments were cloned and sequenced and the 5' and 3' end sequences of genome were confirmed with RACE. The complete sequence of TMV-B comprises 6 395 nucleotides (nt) and four open reading frames, which correspond to 126 ku (1 116 amino acids), 183 ku (1 616 amino acids), 30 ku (268 amino acids) and 17.5 ku proteins (159 amino acids). The complete nucleotide sequence of TMV-B is 99.4% identical to that of TMV-U1. The two virus isolates share the same sequence of 5', 3' non-coding region and 17.5 K ORF, and 6, 1 and 3 amino acid changes are found in 126 K protein, 54 K protein and 30 K protein, respectively. The possible mechanism on the infection of TMV-B in Vicia faba is discussed.     

Interaction of tobacco mosaic virus and tobacco mosaic virus protein with bovine serum albumin.

Bovine serum albumin (BSA) causes tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) to crystallize at pH values where both have negative charges. The amount of albumin required to precipitate the virus varies inversely with ionic strength of added electrolyte. At pH values above 5, the precipitating power is greatest when BSA has the maximum total, positive plus negative, charge. Unlike early stages of the crystallization of TMV in ammonium sulfate-phosphate solutions, which can be reversed by lowering the temperature, the precipitation of TMV by BSA is not readily reversed by changes in temperature. The logarithm of the apparent solubility of TMV in BSA solutions, at constant ionic strength of added electrolyte, decreases linearly with increasing BSA concentration. This result and the correlation of precipitating power with total BSA charge suggest that BSA acts in the manner of a salting-out agent. The effect of BSA on the reversible entropy-driven polymerization of TMV protein (TMVP) depends on BSA concentration, pH, and ionic strength. In general, BSA promotes TMVP polymerization, and this effect increases with increasing BSA concentrations. The effect is larger at pH 6.5 than at pH 6. Even though increasing ionic strength promotes polymerization of TMVP in absence of BSA, the effect of increasing ionic strength from 0.08 to 0.18 at pH 6.5 decreases the polymerization-promoting effect of BSA. Likewise, the presence of BSA decreases the polymerization-promoting effect of ionic strength. The polymerization-promoting effect of BSA can be interpreted in terms of a process akin to salting-out. The mutual suppression of the polymerization-promoting effects of BSA and of electrolytes by each other can be partially explained in terms of salting-in of BSA.     

The effect of ultraviolet irradiation on nucleic acid isolated from tobacco mosaic virus

The effects of ultraviolet irradiation, mainly of 2537-Å wavelength, on RNA extracted from tobacco mosaic virus were studied. Breakage of RNA by irradiation was measured by use of the ultracentrifuge.The quantum yield for breakage of RNA in solution was calculated to be 3.5·10⁻⁶ moles/einstein. Frozen RNA solutions, irradiated at dry-ice or liquid-nitrogen temperatures, gave a quantum yield for breakage of 8.1·10⁻⁶. The heating to 68–70° of RNA solutions which had been irradiated at dry-ice or liquid-nitrogen temperatures increased the apparent quantum yields for breakage. The quantum yield for material irradiated at dry-ice temperature and heated was 2.0·10⁻⁵, and that for material irradiated at liquid-nitrogen temperature and heated was 3.6·10⁻⁵.The observed variations in quantum yield can be explained in terms of a model suggested by Dotyet al. They suggest that the tobacco mosaic virus RNA strand has helical regions interspersed with regions of random coiling. A. hydrogen-bonded secondary structure is believed to stabilize the helical regions.The quantum yield for biological inactivation of frozen RNA solutions irradiated at dry-ice temperature was 7·10⁻⁴, in reasonably good agreement with the value of 3·10⁻⁴ reported by McLaren and Takahashi for inactivation in solution.     

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.     

Purification and characterization of 8 of the pathogenesis-related proteins in tobacco leaves reacting hypersensitively to tobacco mosaic virus

Summary Leaves of tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun NN) which are reacting hypersensitively to infection with tobacco mosaic virus contain 10 major pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins which are absent, or present in small amounts in uninfected leaves. We describe here a preparative procedure of purification of the tobacco PR-proteins which involves a combination of conventional and high-performance liquid chromatography. The separation and isolation of the proteins were based on differences in net charge at different pH values, in isoelectric point and in apparent molecular weight. This procedure led to the purification to homogeneity of 8 PR-proteins, as shown by polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis (PAGE) of the purified proteins under denaturing and non-denaturing conditions. These were the 3 well-known proteins PR-1a,-1b and-1c, and 5 other major PR-proteins, called PR-2,-N,-O,-P and-Q, according to the nomenclature of Van Loon (39). None of the purified PR-proteins gave a positive Schiff reaction for carbohydrate content. Molecular weight determinations from gel permeation chromatography and from sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS)-PAGE indicated that all 8 PR-proteins were monomers and that three groups could be distinguished among them. The first group is the PR-1 group containing PR-1a,-1b and-1c (12000 MW), the second consists of PR-P and PR-Q (14000 MW) and the third of PR-2, PR-N and PR-O (25000 MW). In the PR-1 group, PR-1a can be distinguished clearly from the two other members on denaturing slab gels containing both SDS and urea.