Future virus problems?

Of seventeen viruses that infect British grasses several have been reported only recently; others that occur in Europe have hosts and vectors in Britain and could become a problem. Ryegrass bacilliform virus and ryegrass spherical virus are described and maize dwarf mosaic virus, maize rough dwarf virus and brome mosaic virus are considered as possible pathogens.     

杭州地区发生的玉米花叶病由甘蔗花叶病毒引起

从杭州地区呈现玉米矮花叶典型症状的玉米病组织中提纯得到大量线状病毒粒子,大多数长度为750?nm。病组织中含有大量风轮状内含体和板状集结体。病毒外壳蛋白为33.6 kD。病毒RNA13’端序列(1.8 kb)与甘蔗花叶病毒(SCMV)同源性最高,达71.5%～99.1%,与高梁花叶病毒(SrMV)同源性次之,为67.8%～68.5%,与玉米矮花叶病毒(MDMV)同源性最低,仅为38.4%～48.4%,从而初步认为此病害由SCMV引起。根据已发表的SCMV外壳蛋白氨基酸序列作亲缘性分析,表明SCMV可分为美国、南非、澳大利亚;德国和中国三大类。     

Genome structure and variability of Fijiviruses

The Fijivirus [Fiji disease virus, rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV), maize rough dwarf virus (MRDV), and pangola stunt virus (PaSV), the mal de Rio Cuarto virus (MRCV) strain of MRDV, and oat sterile dwarf virus] are distributed worldwide except for north America, and some of them cause serious disease. However, their genomes have not been extensively studied, and limited molecular data are available only for RBSDV, MRDV, PaSV and MRCV. ALl Fijiviruses have 10 segments, with an aggregate genome size larger than in other plant reovirus genera. All viruses analysed possess the same terminal conserved sequences, which differ from those of the phytoreoviruses and oryzaviruses. There are also sequence-specific inverted repeats adjacent to the terminal sequence. With MRDV and RBSDV, at least two of the segments are bicistronic. Homology studies suggest that MRDV and RBSDV, although known as separate viruses, should be considered as geographical races of the same virus. In contrast, limited data suggest that PaSV and MRCV are less close to each other and to MRDV/RBSDV. Electropherotyping has revealed variation among field isolates, with RBSDV, MRDV and MRCV.     

转人工miRNA抗玉米粗缩病毒载体玉米的培育及其抗病能力

玉米是重要的粮食作物,水稻黑条矮缩病毒(RBSDV)是玉米粗缩病的病原,由其引起的玉米粗缩病给玉米生产造成重大损失。利用人工mi RNA构建抗病毒植物的技术已经在多种植物中被证明有效,但是在玉米中的尝试未见报道。实验根据玉米zea-mi R159a的前体序列和RBSDV基因组中编码功能蛋白的基因和基因沉默抑制子的序列信息设计引物,构建了用于沉默RBSDV编码基因和基因沉默抑制子的ami RNA(Artificial mi RNA)基因。构建p CAMBIA3301-121-ami RNA植物表达载体,利用农杆菌介导法转化玉米自交系综31(Z31)。对转基因玉米进行分子检测,选择mi RNA表达量高的纯合体株系进行自然发病实验,按0-4的分级标准调查玉米粗缩病的严重度。结果表明,转抗粗缩病毒人工mi RNA载体玉米纯合体株系的抗病表现好于野生型玉米,其中针对基因组6的S6-mi R159转基因玉米抗病情况较好。研究表明利用人工mi RNA技术构建抗病毒病玉米新品种是可行的。     

Leafhopper transmission of a virus causing maize wallaby ear disease

A virus causing maize wallaby ear disease was transmitted experimentally by Cicadulina bimaculata to fourteen species of monocotyledonous plants. It was also transmitted by Nesoclutha pallida, and by grafting. The symptoms obtained resemble closely those reported for maize leaf gall disease in the Philippines and maize rough dwarf virus in Italy and Israel. About 85% of C. bimaculata caught in the field carried maize wallaby ear virus (MWEV), and many of their progeny were viruliferous even when not allowed access to infected plants. The proportion of infective individuals in clones bred for nine generations from selected non-transmitting adults decreased from 85% in the first nymphs to less than 1%; such individuals were difficult to rear, as their fecundity and longevity decreased greatly. N. pallida transmitted MWEV after injection with partially purified extracts of infected plants. Spherical particles c. 85 nm in diameter were found in the salivary glands of viruliferous C. bimaculata, but not in those of non-transmitting individuals. The particles occurred in tubules in the cytoplasm and each had a densely stained core c. 50 nm in diameter. Particles similar in size to the core were found in extracts of infected but not uninfected maize, and in extracts of viruliferous but not in non-viruliferous C. bimaculata and N. pallida.     

Improvement of resistance to maize dwarf mosaic virus mediated by transgenic RNA interference

To overcome the low efficiency of agronomic protection from maize dwarf mosaic disease, susceptible maize inbred line was transformed by Agrobacterium tumefaciens harboring hpRNA expression vectors containing inverted-repeat sequences of different lengths targeting coat protein gene (CP) of maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV). After PCR screening and Southern blotting, the flanking sequences of the integration sites were amplified by thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR (TAIL-PCR) and used for analysis of T-DNA integration patterns. The T? plant lines were evaluated for their MDMV resistance in field inoculation trials under two environments. Of the nineteen T? plant lines positive in Southern blotting, six were evaluated as resistant to MDMV, and four of them had resistance non-significantly different from the highly resistant control "H9-21", while the resistance of the other eleven was proved to be significantly improved when compared to their non-transformed parent line. These improvements in MDMV resistance were verified by the relative amount of virus CP gene expression measured by quantitative real time PCR. Comparing the results of Southern blotting and TAIL-PCR analysis, different integration patterns of one or two copies of the inverted-repeat sequences were identified from non-repetitive and repetitive sequences of the maize genome. The MDMV resistance mediated by RNA interference is relative to the length of the inverted-repeat sequence, the copy number of T-DNA integration and the repeatability of integration sites. A longer hpRNA expression construct shows more efficiency than a shorter one.     

水稻黑条矮缩病毒第七号片段的cDNA克隆及其在大肠杆菌中的表达

运用RT-PCR技术,根据玉米粗缩病毒S6的末端序列设计引物,从玉米粗缩病感病材料中克隆得到一条2.2kb长的cDNA片段,序列分析表明,该片段全长2193bp,含两个开放阅读框,分别编码41.0kD和36.3kD的多肽。序列分析结果表明,该cDNA片段及其编码产物与水稻黑条矮缩病毒S7的cDNA序列及编码产物存在最高的相似性,推测该cDNA片段为水稻黑条矮缩病毒的S7片段,而不是玉米粗缩病毒的S6。分别将该片段的两个阅读框克隆到原核表达载体pET21d及pGEXKG中,经IPTG诱导后,两种蛋白均得到了高效的表达。表达产物回收后制备并得到了高效价的抗血清。     

RBSDV在玉米叶脉细胞内的侵染状态与灰飞虱传毒活力的关系

根据水稻黑条矮缩病毒(RBSDV)侵染玉米(Zea mays L.)的症状发展过程先后取叶脉做超薄切片,在透射电镜下观察病毒在细胞内的侵染状态,并存取样前用灰飞虱无毒若虫进行饲毒和传毒试验。结果显示RBSDV侵入玉米叶细胞后先出现在细咆壁附近,个别粒子似与胞间连丝相连;细胞质内产生病毒基质,病毒粒子先增殖并分布其周边,后向病毒基质内扩展;当病毒粒子布满病毒基质后在细胞质中出现直径约90nm的管状结构,病毒成串排列在该管状结构中;随后管状结构逐渐消失,最终形成晶格状聚集排列。用灰飞虱无毒若虫在细胞内病毒基质出现和病毒增殖期饲毒的,到成虫时分别有2．93％和7．83％个体传毒率;在细胞内病毒成串分布于管状结构和品格状聚集排列期饲毒的,到成虫时均不能传毒。     

A plant virus vector for systemic expression of foreign genes in cereals

Inserts bearing the coding sequences of NPT II and beta-glucuronidase (GUS) were placed between the nuclear inclusion b (NIb) and coat protein (CP) domains of the wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) polyprotein ORF. The WSMV NIb-CP junction containing the nuclear inclusion a (NIa) protease cleavage site was duplicated, permitting excision of foreign protein domains from the viral polyprotein. Wheat, barley, oat and maize seedlings supported systemic infection of WSMV bearing NPT II. The NPT II insert was stable for at least 18-30 days post-inoculation and had little effect on WSMV CP accumulation. Histochemical assays indicated the presence of functional GUS protein in systemically infected wheat and barley plants inoculated with WSMV bearing GUS. The GUS constructs had greatly reduced virulence on both oat and maize. RT-PCR indicated that the GUS insert was subject to deletion, particularly when expressed as a GUS-NIb protein fusion. Both reporter genes were expressed in wheat roots at levels comparable to those observed in leaves. These results clearly demonstrate the utility of WSMV as a transient gene expression vector for grass species, including two important grain crops, wheat and maize. The results further indicate that both host species and the nature of inserted sequences affect the stability and expression of foreign genes delivered by engineered virus genomes.     

Crystallization and preliminary X-ray study of a double-shelled spherical virus, rice dwarf virus

Rice dwarf virus (RDV) is a double-shelled spherical plant virus consisting of 46,000 Mr capsid and 114,000 Mr core proteins and minor structural proteins, and containing 12 genome segments of double-stranded RNA. The virus has been crystallized in the cubic space group I23 with a = 789 A. There are two particles per unit cell, each positioned on a point of 23 symmetry. Packing considerations showed that the diameter of the virus particle is 693 A. The crystals diffract to at least 6.5 A resolution.     

Reactions in Maize Infected with Swedish Isolates of Barley Yellow Dwarf (BYDV)

Nine cultivars of maize (Zea mays L.) were tested for susceptibility to BYDV under three temperature ranges in the greenhouse. Three Swedish isolates of BYDV were used, two specifically transmitted by Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) (39/78) and by Sitobion avenae (Fabr.) (27/77), respectively, and the third by both species (70). The virus isolates were transmitted successfully from different grasses to maize and from infected maize to the susceptible oat cultivar "Sol II" by the respective aphid species. S. avenae showed very high ability to transmit the S. avenae specific isolate to and from maize plants.
The main symptoms that developed on maize were fine chlorotic irregular spots, reddish purple discoloration and malformed leaves.
The relationship between maize cultivar, temperature and percent of infection is discussed. Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) was used with success to detect the virus isolate 27/77 in susceptible and symptomless maize plants.
Electron microscopy of maize (cv. LG ll) infected with the 27/77 isolate of BYDV revealed virus-like particles, about 22 nm in diameter, in the nuclei of companion cells, in the plasmodesmata connecting companion cells with mature sieve tubes, in the lumen of mature sieve tubes and in xylem tracheal elements.     

Local and distant sequences are required for efficient readthrough of the barley yellow dwarf virus PAV coat protein gene stop codon.

Many viruses use stop codon readthrough as a strategy to produce extended coat or replicase proteins. The stop codon of the barley yellow dwarf virus (PAV serotype) coat protein gene is read through at a low rate. This produces an extended polypeptide which becomes part of the virion. We have analyzed the cis-acting sequences in the barley yellow dwarf virus PAV genome required for this programmed readthrough in vitro in wheat germ extracts and reticulocyte lysates and in vivo in oat protoplasts. Two regions 3' to the stop codon were required. Deletion of sections containing the first 5 of the 16 CCN NNN repeats located 3' of the stop codon greatly reduced readthrough in vitro and in vivo. Surprisingly, readthrough also required a second, more distal element that is located 697 to 758 bases 3' of the stop codon within the readthrough open reading frame. This element also functioned in vivo in oat protoplasts when placed more than 2 kb from the coat protein gene stop in the untranslated region following a GUS reporter gene. This is the first report of a long-range readthrough signal in viruses.     

Identification of quantitative trait loci controlling resistance to maize chlorotic dwarf virus

Ineffective screening methods and low levels of disease resistance have hampered genetic analysis of maize (Zea mays L.) resistance to disease caused by maize chlorotic dwarf virus (MCDV). Progeny from a cross between the highly resistant maize inbred line Oh1VI and the susceptible inbred line Va35 were evaluated for MCDV symptoms after multiple virus inoculations, using the viral vector Graminella nigrifrons. Symptom severity scores from three rating dates were used to calculate area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) scores for vein banding, leaf twist and tear, and whorl chlorosis. AUDPC scores for the F₂ population indicated that MCDV resistance was quantitatively inherited. Genotypic and phenotypic analyses of 314 F₂ individuals were compared using composite interval mapping (CIM) and analysis of variance. CIM identified two major quantitative trait loci (QTL) on chromosomes 3 and 10 and two minor QTL on chromosomes 4 and 6. Resistance was additive, with alleles from Oh1VI at the loci on chromosomes 3 and 10 contributing equally to resistance.     

Efficient Inoculation of Rice black‐streaked dwarf virus to Maize Using Laodelphax striatellus Fallen

Maize rough dwarf disease caused by Rice black‐streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) is the most important disease of maize in China. Although deploying disease resistant hybrids would be the most effective way to control the disease, development of resistant hybrids has been limited by virus transmission rates that are too low for effective screening. An efficient inoculation technique for RBSDV was developed using Laodelphax striatellus Fallen, in which a virus‐free planthopper colony was developed and viruliferous planthoppers were obtained by allowing a 3‐ to 4‐day acquisition access period on RBSDV‐infected wheat plants. Planthoppers were then allowed a 25‐ to 28‐day latent period on wheat seedlings followed by a 3‐day inoculation access period on two‐to‐three‐leaf stage maize seedlings. By 35 days postinoculation, susceptible hybrid ‘Zhengdan 958’, inbred lines of ‘Ye 107’ and ‘Ye 478’ plants showed 100% RBSDV infection with symptoms of stunting plants, darkening leaves and white waxy swellings on underside of leaves. At tasseling stage, average disease indices were from 96.4 to 100.0%. Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays were correlated with the presence of symptoms. The high efficiency of RBSDV transmission obtained using this technique provides a reliable procedure to screen for RBSDV resistance in maize.     

Host range, properties and purification of raspberry bushy dwarf virus

Raspberry bushy dwarf virus (RBDV) was found in all plants of Lloyd George raspberry with bushy dwarf disease and occurred occasionally in plants of some other cultivars. It was transmitted by inoculation of sap to fifty-five other species in twelve families of flowering plants and infected most of them symptomlessly. It caused systemic symptoms in some species of Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae and Cucurbitaceae, and necrotic local lesions in some Leguminosae. It did not induce bushy dwarf disease when returned to Lloyd George raspberry. Chenopodium quinoa was used for propagating the virus and Vigna cylindrica for local lesion assay. In C. quinoa sap, RBDV lost infectivity when diluted 10^-4, heated for 10 min at 65 °C or stored for 4 days at 22 °C. Preparations made by twice precipitating the virus at pH 4·8 and resuspending it at pH 7·0, followed by ultracentrifugation and exclusion chromatography in columns of 2 % agarose beads, contained isometric particles about 33 nm in diameter, which sedimented as two components, with sedimentation coefficients of 111 and 116S. Only a few particles, all of them disrupted, were seen in preparations mounted in phosphotungstate, but the particles were well preserved in uranyl formate provided that they were first dispersed in a saxlt such as MgCl₂ instead of distilled water. Many particles were oval in outline as though distorted during drying. No serological relationship was detected between RBDV and twenty-four other isometric viruses nor between RBDV and the filamentous virus apple chlorotic leafspot, to which it was previously thought to be related. An isolate of loganberry degeneration virus was serologically indistinguishable from RBDV.     

Detection of maize rough dwarf virus by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in plant hosts and in the planthopper vector

SVPs were efficiently detected by ELISA in individual male and female insects. Females carried more virus per insect and per unit fresh weight, but no significant difference was detected between males and females in vector efficiency. Of insects positive in ELISA, 15–20% were unable to transmit the virus to host plants. Storage of viruliferous hoppers at-20°C decreased the level of viral antigen detected by half in about 240 days. Subviral particles (SVPs) of maize rough dwarf virus were detected in the planthopper vector Laodelphax striatellus and in maize and barley plants using double antibody sandwich ELISA. In purified preparations diluted in buffer, as little as 36 ng/ml of SVPs was detectable whereas after dilution in extracts of healthy frozen planthoppers the sensitivity was reduced to 50 ng/ml. Freezing the hoppers prior to extraction lowered to one third the background reading due to normal components. Neither the dissociated proteins of the SVP nor the viral double-stranded RNA contributed to the ELISA readings.     

Evaluation of oat cultivars and lines under infection with barley yellow dwarf virus

Thirteen domestic and foreign oat cultivars and eight breeding lines bred from the University of Illinois were evaluated for resistance to barley yellow dwarf (BYD) using artificial inoculation with Rhopalosiphum padi viruliferous for an isolate of Barley yellow dwarf virus-PAV endemic to Moscow region origin. Cultivar Blaze and six Illinois lines showed the best grain yields under disease pressure that resembled a BYD epidemic.     

The complete sequence of a sugarcane mosaic virus isolate causing maize dwarf mosaic disease in China

The complete sequence of a potyvirus from maize in Zhejiang Province was determined. The RNA was 9596 nucleotides long, excluding the 3'-poly (A) tail, and there was a single long open reading frame (ORF) of 9192 nts encoding a 346.1 ku polyprotein. The polyprotein had substantial amino acid sequence homology with those encoded by the RNAs of a Chinese isolate of sorghum mosaic virus (SrMV-C) and a Bulgarian isolate of maize dwarf mosaic virus, but it was most closely related to sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) isolates, for which only partial sequences have been published. According to the published criteria for distinguishing potyviruses, the sequence reported here is clearly a strain of SCMV, but it also showed a surprisingly high amino acid homology with SrMV-C in the HC-Pro, P3 and Cl proteins.     

The complete sequence of a sugarcane mosaic virus isolate causing maize dwarf mosaic disease in China

The complete sequence of a potyvirus from maize in Zhejiang Province was determined. The RNA was 9596 nucleotides long, excluding the 3′-poly (A) tail, and there was a single long open reading frame (ORF) of 9192 nts encoding a 346.1 ku polyprotein. The polyprotein had substantial amino acid sequence homology with those encoded by the RNAs of a Chinese isolate of sorghum mosaic virus (SrMV-C) and a Bulgarian isolate of maize dwarf mosaic virus, but it was most closely related to sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) isolates, for which only partial sequences have been published. According to the published criteria for distinguishing potyviruses, the sequence reported here is clearly a strain of SCMV, but it also showed a surprisingly high amino acid homology with SrMV-C in the HC-Pro, P3 and Cl proteins.     

Purification of carrot red leaf virus and evidence from four serological tests for its relationship to luteoviruses

Carrot red leaf virus (CRLV) was purified from infected chervil by centrifuging whole plant extracts at low speed and incubating the resuspended pellets with Driselase; the digest was then treated with 1% (v/v) Triton X-100 and the virus concentrated by centrifugation twice at high speed through a layer of 20% sucrose. The preparations (about 1 μg virus/g tissue) contained isometric particles c. 25 nm in diameter which formed a single u.v.-absorbing component in sucrose density gradients. Chervil seedlings exposed to aphids (Cavariella aegopodii) that had been injected with or had fed on fractions from the u.v.-absorbing zone developed typical symptoms of infection with CRLV. CRLV particles had a sedimentation coefficient (s_20,w) of 104 S, buoyant density in CsCl of 1.403 g/cm³ and A₂₆₀/A₂₈₀ of 1.62. Antiserum with a gel-diffusion titre of 1/512 was obtained from a rabbit injected intradermally with 100 μg purified virus. CRLV was detected by immunosorbent electron microscopy and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in extracts of the petioles and leaf midribs of infected chervil and in groups of five to 20 viruliferous C. aegopodii. Analysis of antiserum/virus reactions by density gradient centrifugation showed that CRLV is distantly related to all luteoviruses tested; its relationships were closest to barley yellow dwarf virus (RPV strain), and perhaps also to beet western yellows virus, more distant to tobacco necrotic dwarf, potato leafroll and bean leafroll viruses, and very distant to barley yellow dwarf (MAV strain) and soybean dwarf viruses. Some of these relationships were detected by double diffusion in agarose gels and by electron microscopy of antiserum/virus mixtures. Immunosorbent electron microscopy detected all these relationships but suggested that CRLV was more closely related to tobacco necrotic dwarf and potato leafroll viruses than to barley yellow dwarf virus (RPV strain). The results show that CRLV should be considered a definitive member of the luteovirus group, and provide confirmation of recent evidence that potato leafroll virus is a luteovirus.