Two amino acids near the N‐terminus of Cucumber mosaic virus 2b play critical roles in the suppression of RNA silencing and viral infectivity

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) 2b suppresses RNA silencing primarily through the binding of double‐stranded RNA (dsRNA) of varying sizes. However, the biologically active form of 2b remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that the single and double alanine substitution mutants in the N‐terminal 15th leucine and 18th methionine of CMV 2b exhibit drastically attenuated virulence in wild‐type plants, but are efficiently rescued in mutant plants defective in RNA‐dependent RNA polymerase 6 (RDR6) and Dicer‐like 4 (DCL4). Moreover, the transgenic plants of 2b, but not 2blm (L15A/M18A), rescue the high infectivity of CMV‐Δ2b through the suppression of antiviral silencing. L15A, M18A or both weaken 2b suppressor activity on local and systemic transgene silencing. In contrast with the high affinity of 2b to short and long dsRNAs, 2blm is significantly compromised in 21‐bp duplex small interfering RNA (siRNA) binding ability, but maintains a strong affinity for long dsRNAs. In cross‐linking assays, 2b can form dimers, tetramers and oligomers after treatment with glutaraldehyde, whereas 2blm only forms dimers, rather than tetramers and oligomers, in vitro. Together, these findings suggest that L15 and M18 of CMV 2b are required for high affinity to ds‐siRNAs and oligomerization activity, which are essential for the suppression activity of 2b on antiviral silencing.     

A pathogenicity determinant maps to the N‐terminal coat protein region of the Pepino mosaic virus genome

Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) poses a worldwide threat to the tomato industry. Considerable differences at the genetic level allow for the distinction of four main genotypic clusters; however, the basis of the phenotypic outcome is difficult to elucidate. This work reports the generation of wild‐type PepMV infectious clones of both EU (mild) and CH2 (aggressive) genotypes, from which chimeric infectious clones were created. Phenotypic analysis in three solanaceous hosts, Nicotiana benthamiana, Datura stramonium and Solanum lycopersicum, indicated that a PepMV pathogenicity determinant mapped to the 3′‐terminal region of the genome. Increased aggression was only observed in N. benthamiana, showing that this factor is host specific. The determinant was localized to amino acids 11–26 of the N‐terminal coat protein (CP) region; this is the first report of this region functioning as a virulence factor in PepMV.     

The cis-expression of the coat protein of turnip mosaic virus is essential for viral intercellular movement in plants

To establish infection, plant viruses are evolutionarily empowered with the ability to spread intercellularly. Potyviruses represent the largest group of known plant-infecting RNA viruses, including many agriculturally important viruses. To better understand intercellular movement of potyviruses, we used turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) as a model and constructed a double-fluorescent (green and mCherry) protein-tagged TuMV infectious clone, which allows distinct observation of primary and secondary infected cells. We conducted a series of deletion and mutation analyses to characterize the role of TuMV coat protein (CP) in viral intercellular movement. TuMV CP has 288 amino acids and is composed of three domains: the N-terminus (amino acids 1–97), the core (amino acids 98–245), and the C-terminus (amino acids 246–288). We found that deletion of CP or its segments amino acids 51–199, amino acids 200–283, or amino acids 265–274 abolished the ability of TuMV to spread intercellularly but did not affect virus replication. Interestingly, deletion of amino acids 6–50 in the N-terminus domain resulted in the formation of aberrant virions but did not significantly compromise TuMV cell-to-cell and systemic movement. We identified the charged residues R178 and D222 within the core domain that are essential for virion formation and TuMV local and systemic transport in plants. Moreover, we found that trans-expression of the wild-type CP either by TuMV or through genetic transformation-based stable expression could not rescue the movement defect of CP mutants. Taken together these results suggest that TuMV CP is not essential for viral genome replication but is indispensable for viral intercellular transport where only the cis-expressed CP is functional.     

Transgenic tobacco plants expressing the coat protein of cucumber mosaic virus show different virus resistance

Transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi-nc) plants were regenerated after cocultivation of leaf explants withAgrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404 harboring a plasmid that contained the coat protein (CP) gene of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV-As). PCR and Southern blot analyses revealed that the CMV CP gene was successfully introduced into the genomic DNA of the transgenic tobacco plants. Transgenic plants (CP⁺) expressing CP were obtained and used for screening the virus resistance. They could be categorized into three types after inoculation with the virus: virus-resistant, delay of symptom development, and susceptible type. Most of the CP⁺ transgenic tobacco plants failed to develop symptoms or showed systemic symptom development delayed for 5 to 42 days as compared to those of nontransgenic control plants after challenged with the same virus. However, some CP⁺ transgenic plants were highly susceptible after inoculation with the virus. Our results suggest that the CP-mediated viral resistance is readily applicable to CMV disease in other crops.     

Rice stripe virus coat protein induces the accumulation of jasmonic acid,activating plant defence against the virus while also attracting its vector to feed

The jasmonic acid (JA) pathway plays crucial roles in plant defence against pathogens and herbivores. Rice stripe virus (RSV) is the type member of the genus Tenuivirus. It is transmitted by the small brown planthopper (SBPH) and causes damaging epidemics in East Asia. The role(s) that JA may play in the tripartite interaction against RSV, its host, and vector are poorly understood. Here, we found that the JA pathway was induced by RSV infection and played a defence role against RSV. The coat protein (CP) was the major viral component responsible for inducing the JA pathway. Methyl jasmonate treatment attracted SBPHs to feed on rice plants while a JA-deficient mutant was less attractive than wild-type rice. SBPHs showed an obvious preference for feeding on transgenic rice lines expressing RSV CP. Our results demonstrate that CP is an inducer of the JA pathway that activates plant defence against RSV while also attracting SBPHs to feed and benefitting viral transmission. This is the first report of the function of JA in the tripartite interaction between RSV, its host, and its vector.     

Molecular interactions between a plant virus movement protein and RNA: force spectroscopy investigation

RNA-protein interactions are fundamental for different aspects of molecular biology such as gene expression, assembly of biomolecular complexes or macromolecular transport. The 3a movement protein (MP) of a plant virus, Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), forms ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes with viral RNA, capable of trafficking from cell-to-cell throughout the infected plant only in the presence of the CMV capsid protein (CP). However, deletion of the C-terminal 33 amino acid residues of the CMV MP (in the mutant designated 3aDeltaC33 MP) resulted in CP-independent cell-to-cell movement. The biological differences in the behaviour of CMV wild type (wt) 3a MP and 3aDeltaC33 MP could have been a consequence of differences in the RNA-binding properties of the two MPs detected previously using biochemical assays on ensembles of molecules. To investigate the physical mechanisms of MP-RNA interactions at a single molecule level, we applied atomic force microscopy to measure for the first time unbinding forces between these individual binding partners. Minimal unbinding forces determined for individual interaction of the CMV RNA molecule with the CMV wt or truncated MPs were estimated to be approximately 45 pN and approximately 90 pN, respectively, suggesting that the distinct differences in the strength of MP-RNA interactions for the wt MP and truncated MP are attributable to the molecular binding mechanism. We also demonstrated that molecules of both CMV 3a MP and 3aDeltaC33 MP were capable of self-interaction with minimal unbinding forces of approximately 50 pN and approximately 70 pN, respectively, providing a physical basis for the cooperative mechanism of the RNA binding. The significance of intermolecular force measurements for understanding the structural and functional aspects of viral RNP formation and trafficking is discussed.     

Modified model of the structure of the potato virus X coat protein

A modified model was proposed for the tertiary structure of the coat protein (CP) molecules in potato virus X (PVX) virions, similar to the original model of 2001 describing the structure of CP of potato virus A, a member of another group of filamentous viruses. According to the new model, CP comprises two main structural domains, namely, a bundle of α-helices, located near the long axis of the virion, and the socalled RNP fold (or abCd fold), located in the vicinity of its surface. The model made it possible to suggest a possible mechanism of the PVX virion structural rearrangement (remodeling) resulting from translational activation of virions by the TGB1 movement protein according to Atabekov and colleagues.     

N‐terminal region of cysteine‐rich protein (CRP) in carlaviruses is involved in the determination of symptom types

Plant viruses in the genus Carlavirus include more than 65 members. Plants infected with carlaviruses exhibit various symptoms, including leaf malformation and plant stunting. Cysteine‐rich protein (CRP) encoded by carlaviruses has been reported to be a pathogenicity determinant. Carlavirus CRPs contain two motifs in their central part: a nuclear localization signal (NLS) and a zinc finger motif (ZF). In addition to these two conserved motifs, carlavirus CRPs possess highly divergent, N‐terminal, 34 amino acid residues with unknown function. In this study, to analyse the role of these distinct domains, we tested six carlavirus CRPs for their RNA silencing suppressor activity, ability to enhance the pathogenicity of a heterologous virus and effects on virus accumulation levels. Although all six tested carlavirus CRPs showed RNA silencing suppressor activity at similar levels, symptoms induced by the Potato virus X (PVX) heterogeneous system exhibited two different patterns: leaf malformation and whole‐plant stunting. The expression of each carlavirus CRP enhanced PVX accumulation levels, which were not correlated with symptom patterns. PVX‐expressing CRP with mutations in either NLS or ZF did not induce symptoms, suggesting that both motifs play critical roles in symptom expression. Further analysis using chimeric CRPs, in which the N‐terminal region was replaced with the corresponding region of another CRP, suggested that the N‐terminal region of carlavirus CRPs determined the exhibited symptom types. The up‐regulation of a plant gene upp‐L, which has been reported in a previous study, was also observed in this study; however, the expression level was not responsible for symptom types.     

香蕉花叶病毒外壳蛋白基因克隆及表达载体的构建

从海南大田感染香蕉花叶病的香蕉叶片 ,获得香蕉花叶病毒 ,提纯其 RNA,在 AMV反转录酶作用下合成 c DNA第一链 ,经 PCR扩增 ,获得一约 70 0 bp的 DNA片段 ,测序结果显示所克隆的 DNA片段包含一完整的香蕉花叶病毒株系 ( CMV-BHI)外壳蛋白基因 ,长度为 6 5 7bp,然后将此 DNA片段 ,分别克隆到p BI1 2 1和 p KHG4质粒 ,构成两个含 Ca MV35 s启动子 ( 5 '-端 )、NOS终止子 ( 3'-端 )和分别含 NPT 标记基因和 NPT 及 HPT标记基因的植物表达载体 ( p TBB和 p TBK)。然后用 p AHC1 8中的 UBI promoter换下p BI1 2 1的 Ca MV35 s promoter,构成 p BIAH;再用 CMV-BHI外壳蛋白基因换下 p BIAH中 GUS基因 ,构成一含单子叶植物启动子 UBI和 NPT 标记基因的植物表达载体 ( p TBBU)。从而为 CMV-BHI外壳蛋白基因在香蕉中表达打下了基础     

cDNA cloning of artichoke mottled crinkle virus RNA and localization and sequencing of the coat protein gene

We report the cDNA cloning of the genomic RNA of artichoke mottled crinkle virus (AMCV), which is a member of Tombusvirus group. AMCV has a monopartite positive sense RNA genome, which is not polyadenylated at the 3 end. The genome size is 4.8 kb.We have localized and sequenced the open reading frame (ORF) encoding the coat protein. Unlike most monopartite positive-strand RNA plant viruses, the ORF is not located near the 3 end, but like other members of the Tombusvirus group, CyRSV (cymbidium ringspot virus), TBSV-cherry (tomato bushy stunt virus cherry strain) and CNV (cucumber necrosis virus) it starts ca. 2.7 kb downstream of the 5 end and stops ca. 1 kb upstream of the 3 end. This ORF predicts a polypeptide chain of 387 amino acids.Comparison of the coat proteins of AMCV, TBSV-BS3, TBSV-cherry and CNV confirms that, within the Tombusvirus group, there exists a high degree of similarity among coat proteins but that this similarity is not uniformly distributed among domains. In particular, the N-terminal region, thought to make contact with the phosphate groups of the viral RNA, and the C-terminal region, considered the most immunogenic portion of the capsid, are found to be the least homologous.     

Escape of a plant virus from amplicon-mediated RNA silencing is associated with biotic or abiotic stress

Strong RNA silencing was induced in plants transformed with an amplicon consisting of full-length cDNA of potato leafroll virus (PLRV) expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP), as shown by low levels of PLRV-GFP accumulation, lack of symptoms and accumulation of amplicon-specific short interfering RNAs (siRNAs). Inoculation of these plants with various viruses known to encode silencing suppressor proteins induced a striking synergistic effect leading to the enhanced accumulation of PLRV-GFP, suggesting that it had escaped from silencing. However, PLRV-GFP escape also occurred following inoculation with viruses that do not encode known silencing suppressors and treatment of silenced plants with biotic or abiotic stress agents. We propose that viruses can evade host RNA-silencing defences by a previously unrecognized mechanism that may be associated with a host response to some types of abiotic stress such as heat shock.     

Resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus in transgenic wheat engineered with the viral coat protein gene

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) plants were stably transformed with the coat protein (CP) gene of wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) by the biolistic method. Eleven independently transformed plant lines were obtained and five were analyzed for gene expression and resistance to WSMV. One line showed high resistance to inoculations of two WSMV strains. This line had milder symptoms and lower virus titer than control plants after inoculation. After infection, new growth did not show symptoms. The observed resistance was similar to the recovery type resistance described previously using WSMV NIb transgene and in other systems. This line looked morphologically normal but had an unusually high transgene copy number (approximately 90 copies per 2C homozygous genome). Northern hybridization analysis indicated a high level of degraded CP mRNA expression. However, no coat protein expression was detected.     

Targeting of genomic and negative‐sense strands of viral RNA contributes to antiviral resistance mediated by artificial miRNAs and promotes the emergence of complex viral populations

Technology based on artificial small RNAs, including artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs), exploits natural RNA silencing mechanisms to achieve silencing of endogenous genes or pathogens. This technology has been successfully employed to generate resistance against different eukaryotic viruses. However, information about viral RNA molecules effectively targeted by these small RNAs is rather conflicting, and factors contributing to the selection of virus mutants escaping the antiviral activity of virus‐specific small RNAs have not been studied in detail. In this work, we transformed Nicotiana benthamiana plants with amiRNA constructs designed against the potyvirus plum pox virus (PPV), a positive‐sense RNA virus, and obtained lines highly resistant to PPV infection and others showing partial resistance. These lines have allowed us to verify that amiRNA directed against genomic RNA is more efficient than amiRNA targeting its complementary strand. However, we also provide evidence that the negative‐sense RNA strand is cleaved by the amiRNA‐guided RNA silencing machinery. Our results show that the selection pressure posed by the amiRNA action on both viral RNA strands causes an evolutionary explosion that results in the emergence of a broad range of virus variants, which can further expand in the presence, and even in the absence, of antiviral challenges.     

Deletion of fucose residues in plant N‐glycans by repression of the GDP‐mannose 4,6‐dehydratase gene using virus‐induced gene silencing and RNA interference

Production of pharmaceutical glycoproteins in plants has many advantages in terms of safety and reduced costs. However, plant‐produced glycoproteins have N‐glycans with plant‐specific sugar residues (core β‐1,2‐xylose and α‐1,3‐fucose) and a Lewis a (Le^a) epitope, i.e., Galβ(1‐3)[Fucα(1‐4)]GlcNAc. Because these sugar residues and glycan structures seemed to be immunogenic, several attempts have been made to delete them by repressing their respective glycosyltransferase genes. However, until date, such deletions have not been successful in completely eliminating the fucose residues. In this study, we simultaneously reduced the plant‐specific core α‐1,3‐fucose and α‐1,4‐fucose residues in the Le^a epitopes by repressing the Guanosine 5′‐diphosphate (GDP)‐D‐mannose 4,6‐dehydratase (GMD) gene, which is associated with GDP‐L‐fucose biosynthesis, in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. Repression of GMD was achieved using virus‐induced gene silencing (VIGS) and RNA interference (RNAi). The proportion of fucose‐free N‐glycans found in total soluble protein from GMD gene‐repressed plants increased by 80% and 95% following VIGS and RNAi, respectively, compared to wild‐type plants. A small amount of putative galactose substitution in N‐glycans from the NbGMD gene‐repressed plants was observed, similar to what has been previously reported GMD‐knockout Arabidopsis mutant. On the other hand, the recombinant mouse granulocyte‐macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (GM‐CSF) with fucose‐deleted N‐glycans was successfully produced in NbGMD‐RNAi transgenic N. benthamiana plants. Thus, repression of the GMD gene is thus very useful for deleting immunogenic total fucose residues and facilitating the production of pharmaceutical glycoproteins in plants.     

Intracellular small interfering RNA delivery using genetically engineered double‐stranded RNA binding protein domain

Background

A variety of synthetic carriers, such as cationic polymers and lipids, have been used as nonviral carriers for small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery. Although siRNA polyplexes and lipoplexes exhibited good gene silencing efficiencies, they often showed serious cytotoxicities, which are not useful for clinical applications. A double‐stranded RNA binding cellular protein with highly specific siRNA binding property and noncytotoxicity was used for siRNA delivery.

Methods

A double‐stranded RNA binding domain (dsRBD) of human double‐stranded RNA activated protein kinase R was genetically produced and utilized to complex siRNA for intracellular delivery. For characterization of the siRNA/dsRBD complexes, decomplexation assay and RNase protection assay were performed. Cytotoxicity and target gene inhibition ability were also examined using human carcinoma cell lines.

Results

The recombinantly produced polypeptide dsRBD exhibited its inherent binding activity for siRNA without sequence specificity, and the siRNA/dsRBD complexes protected siRNA from degradation by ribonucleases. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) siRNA/dsRBD complexes showed prominent down‐regulation of a target GFP gene, when an endosomal escape function was supplemented by addition of a fusogenic peptide, KALA, in the formulation.

Conclusions

The results suggest that dsRBD‐based protein carriers could be successfully applied for a wide range of therapeutic siRNAs for intracellular gene inhibition without showing any cytotoxicity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.