Truncated Rep gene originated from Tomato yellow leaf curl virus-Israel [Mild] confers strain-specific resistance in transgenic tomato

Transgenic tomato plants carrying a truncated replication associated protein (T‐Rep) gene of the mild strain of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus‐Israel (TYLCV‐Is [Mild]) were prepared. The transgene encoding the first 129 amino acids of Rep conferred resistance only against the virus strain from which it was derived, while these plants were susceptible to the severe strain of TYLCV‐Is. This strain‐specific effect may be the result of high sequence divergence within the N‐terminal domains of the Rep genes of the two virus isolates which share a mere 78% sequence identity at the nucleotide level and 77% at the amino acid level. Although the transgenic tomato plants were totally resistant to whitefly inoculation with the mild strain of TYLCV‐Is, agroinoculation with the same virus strain resulted in variable resistance responses in the tested plants: while 21% of plants were totally immune to the virus, 33% were susceptible and 46% expressed a wide range of intermediate resistance characteristics. The applicability of TYLCV‐Is derived resistance in tomato is discussed.     

烟草曲茎病毒复制蛋白基因的原核表达和免疫定位

利用PCR方法从烟草曲茎病毒 (TbCSV)Y35分离物的病株中获得复制蛋白 (Rep)基因 ,将其克隆到原核表达载体pGEX 4T 1上获得重组质粒pGEX Y35Rep。重组质粒导入大肠杆菌BL2 1(DE3)pLysS中 ,IPTG诱导表达后发现部分Rep融合蛋白以可溶性形式表达。利用GST Sepharose 4B亲和层析柱纯化了Rep的融合蛋白 ,免疫家兔获得Rep蛋白的抗体。对TbCSV侵染烟草中Rep蛋白的亚细胞分布研究发现 ,Rep蛋白主要分布于含有细胞核的组份中。利用免疫胶体金技术对感病烟草中Rep蛋白进行了定位 ,发现Rep蛋白存在于细胞核内     

Inhibition of Binding of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Rep to its Replication Origin by Artificial Zinc-Finger Protein

Previously we demonstrated that inhibition of replication-associated protein (Rep) binding to its replication origin by artificial zinc-finger proteins (AZPs) is a powerful method to prevent plant virus infection in vivo. In the present study, we applied the AZP technology to Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), which is a limiting factor in tomato cultivation worldwide. First, we determined 5′-ATCGGTGT ATCGGTGT-3′ in the 195-bp intergenic region of the TYLCV-Israel strain, a strain reported first among TYLCV strains, as the Rep-binding site by gel shift assays. We then constructed a 6-finger AZP that bound to a 19-bp DNA including the Rep-binding site. We demonstrated that the binding affinity of the AZP was >1,000-fold greater than that of Rep and that the AZP inhibited Rep binding completely in vitro. Because the binding capability of the AZP was same as that of the AZP previously designed for geminivirus-resistant Arabidopsis thaliana, we predict that the present AZP will prevent TYLCV infection in vivo.     

DNA bending of pSC101 ori induced by Rep,a replication initiator protein and IHF

Purified Rep (or RepA) protein, a replication initiator of plasmid pSC101, is present almost solely in the dimer form, and its binding activity for the directly repeated sequences (iterons) in the replication origin (ori) is very low. When Rep protein was treated with guanidine hydrochloride followed by renaturation, it was shown to bind to the iterons with very high efficiency. A gel shift experiment suggested that guanidine-treated Rep bound to iterons as a monomer form. The Rep monomer bound noncooperatively to the three iterons and induced bending of the DNA helix axis in the same direction (about 100 degrees ). The configuration of the IHF box that is a binding site of another DNA bending protein IHF, the three iterons and an AT-rich region between these sequences was important for efficient bending of the ori region. Furthermore, a mutant Rep protein (Rep(IHF)) which can support the plasmid replication in IHF-deficient host cells was purified, and it was found that affinity of the Rep(IHF) monomer for iterons was similar to that of wild-type Rep and bent DNA only 14 degrees more strongly than did the wild-type Rep. Rep(IHF)-dependent plasmid replication, however, required both enhancer regions, par and IR-1, in addition to "core ori" as a minimal essential ori, whereas only one of these two enhancers was necessary for wild-type Rep-dependent replication. How Rep(IHF) can support plasmid replication in the absence of IHF is discussed.     

A single nucleotide change within a plant virus satellite RNA alters the host specificity of disease induction

Some RNA plant viruses contain satellite RNAs which are dependent upon their associated virus for replication and encapsidation. Some cucumber mosaic virus satellite RNAs induce chlorosis on any of several host plants, including either tobacco or tomato. The exchange of sequence domains between cDNA clones of chlorosis-inducing and non-pathogenic satellite RNAs delimited the chlorosis domain for both tobacco and tomato plants to the same region. Site-directed mutagenesis of one nucleotide (149) within this domain changed the host plant specificity for a chlorotic response to satellite RNA infection from tomato to tobacco. Within the chlorosis domain, three conserved nucleotides are either deleted or altered in all satellite RNAs that do not induce chlorosis. Deletion of one of these nucleotides (153) did not affect satellite RNA replication but rendered it non-pathogenic. Thus, two single nucleotides have been identified which play central roles in those interactions between the virus, its satellite RNA and the host plant, and together result in a specific disease state.     

Observations and experiments on the use of an avirulent mutant strain of tobacco mosaic virus as a means of controlling tomato mosaic

In 1973 tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) strain M II-16 was successfully used by growers in the United Kingdom to protect commercial tomato crops against the severe effects of naturally occurring strains of TMV. However, plants in many crops had mosaic leaf symptoms which were occasionally severe, so possible reasons for symptom appearance were examined. The concentration of the mutant strain in commercially produced inocula (assessed by infectivity and spectrophotometry) ranged from 28 to 1220 μg virus/ml; nevertheless all samples contained sufficient virus to infect a high percentage of inoculated tomato seedlings. Increasing the distance between the plants and the spray gun used for inoculation from 5 to 15 cm resulted in a significant decrease in the number of tomato seedlings infected. When M II-16 infected tomato plants were subsequently inoculated with each of fifty-three different isolates of TMV, none showed severe symptoms of the challenging isolates within 4 wk, although some isolates of strain o induced atypically mild leaf symptoms. In a further experiment, M II-16 infected plants showed conspicuous leaf symptoms only 7 wk after inoculation with a virulent TMV isolate. M II-16 multiplied more slowly in tomato plants and had a lower specific infectivity than a naturally occurring strain of TMV. More than 50% of plants in crops inoculated with strain M II-16 which subsequently showed conspicuous leaf mosaic contained TMV strain 1 or a form intermediate between strains o and 1. It is suggested that the production of TMV symptoms in commercial crops previously inoculated with strain M II-16 may result from an initially low level of infection, due to inefficient inoculation, which allows subsequent infection of unprotected plants by virulent strains. Incomplete protection by strain M II-16 against all naturally occurring strains may also be an important factor.     

Types of change in potato virus X infections

In tobacco plants infected with mild strains of virus X , severe strains may arise as mutations which multiply locally.
Several strains of virus X gradually lost infectivity for potato on continued culture in other hosts such as tobacco.
Strains that are poorly infective or invasive for potato may take considerable time to move into the growing shoot from the tuber in detectable amounts.
Pronounced and apparently spontaneous increases in the severity of the strain that dominates in potatoes may occur in field crops.     

Expression of the oligomerization domain of the replication-associated protein (Rep) of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus interferes with DNA accumulation of heterologous geminiviruses

The minimal DNA binding domain of the replication-associated protein (Rep) of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus was determined by electrophoretic mobility gel shift analysis and co-purification assays. DNA binding activity maps to amino acids 1-160 (Rep-(1-160)) of the Rep protein and overlaps with the protein oligomerization domain. Transient expression of Rep protein (Rep-(1-160)) was found to inhibit homologous viral DNA accumulation by 70-86% in tobacco protoplasts and in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. The results obtained showed that expression of N-terminal sequences of Rep protein could efficiently interfere with DNA binding and oligomerization activities during virus infection. Surprisingly, this protein reduced accumulation of the African cassava mosaic virus, Pepper huasteco yellow vein virus and Potato yellow mosaic virus by 22-48%. electrophoretic mobility shift assays and co-purification studies showed that Rep-(1-160) did not bind with high affinity in vitro to the corresponding common region sequences of heterologous geminiviruses. However, Rep-(1-160) formed oligomers with the Rep proteins of the other geminiviruses. These data suggest that the regulation of virus accumulation may involve binding of the Rep to target DNA sequences and to the other Rep molecules during virus replication.     

Minimal essential origin of plasmid pSC101 replication: requirement of a region downstream of iterons.

The minimal replication origin (ori) of the plasmid pSC101 was defined as an about 220-bp region under the condition that the Rep (or RepA) protein, a plasmid-encoded initiator protein, was supplied in trans. The DnaA box is located at one end of ori, as in other plasmids, like mini-F and P1. The other border is a strong binding site (IR-1) of Rep which is palindromic sequence and lies in an about 50-bp region beyond the repeated sequences (iterons) in ori. This IR-1 is located just upstream of another strong Rep binding site (IR-2), the operator site of the structure gene of Rep (rep), but its function has not been determined. The present study shows that the IR-1 sequence capable of binding to Rep is essential for plasmid replication with a nearly normal copy number. Furthermore, a region between the third iteron and IR-1 is also required in a sequence-specific fashion, since some one-base substitution in this region inactivate the origin function. It is likely that the region also is a recognition site of an unknown protein. Three copy number mutations of rep can suppress any one-base substitution mutation. On the other hand, the sequence of a spacer region between the second and the third iterons, which is similar to that of the downstream region of the third iteron, can be changed without loss of the origin function. The requirement of the region downstream of iterons in pSC101 seems to be unique among iteron-driven plasmid replicons.     

Gaining replicability in a nonhost compromises the silencing suppression activity of Tobacco mild green mosaic virus in a host

Natural isolates of Tobacco mild green mosaic virus (TMGMV) fail to infect tomato because the tomato tm-1 protein binds to the replication proteins of TMGMV and prevents RNA replication. Previously, we isolated a TMGMV mutant that overcomes tm-1-mediated resistance and multiplies in tomato plants. Here, we show that the causal mutations in the replication protein gene that abolish the interaction with tm-1 reduce its ability to suppress RNA silencing in host plant Nicotiana benthamiana. The results suggest that the multifunctionality of the replication proteins is an evolutionary constraint of tobamoviruses that restricts their host ranges.     

Inhibition of virus DNA replication by artificial zinc finger proteins

Prevention of virus infections is a major objective in agriculture and human health. One attractive approach to the prevention is inhibition of virus replication. To demonstrate this concept in vivo, an artificial zinc finger protein (AZP) targeting the replication origin of the Beet severe curly top virus (BSCTV), a model DNA virus, was created. In vitro DNA binding assays indicated that the AZP efficiently blocked binding of the viral replication protein (Rep), which initiates virus replication, to the replication origin. All of the transgenic Arabidopsis plants expressing the AZP showed phenotypes strongly resistant to virus infection, and 84% of the transgenic plants showed no symptom. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that BSCTV replication was completely suppressed in the transgenic plants. Since the mechanism of viral DNA replication is well conserved among plants and mammals, this approach could be applied not only to agricultural crop protection but also to the prevention of virus infections in humans.     

Potato spindle tuber viroid strains of different pathogenicity induces and suppresses expression of common and unique genes in infected tomato

Viroids are the smallest plant pathogens. These RNAs do not encode proteins and are not encapsidated, and yet they can replicate autonomously, move systemically, and cause diseases in infected plants. Notably, strains of a viroid with subtle differences in nucleotide sequences can cause dramatically different symptoms in infected plants. These features make viroids unique probes to investigate the role of a pathogenic RNA genome in triggering host responses. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of the differential gene expression patterns of tomato plants at various stages of infection by a mild and severe strain of Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd). We also compared tomato gene expression altered by the PSTVd strains with that altered by Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Our analyses revealed that the two PSTVd strains altered expression of both common and unique tomato genes. These genes encode products involved in defense/stress response, cell wall structure, chloroplast function, protein metabolism, and other diverse functions. Five genes have unknown functions. Four genes are novel. The expression of some but not all of these genes was also altered by TMV infection. Our results indicate that viroids, although structurally simple, can trigger complex host responses. Further characterization of viroid-altered gene expression in a host plant should help understand viroid pathogenicity and, potentially, the mechanisms of RNA-mediated regulation of plant gene expression.     

The identification of mild and severe strains of tobacco mosaic virus in doubly inoculated tomato plants

Using specific antisera, it was possible to identify mild (MII-16) and the 0 and 1 strains of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) in tomato plants infected with the mild strain following challenge inoculation with the wild strains. In addition, with single lesion isolates of the MII-16 and o strains it has been shown that both strains can be assayed simultaneously in mixed isolates on Nicotiana glutinosa based on differences in local lesion size. The accuracy of this differential local lesion assay was c. 90% as determined by back inoculation of single lesion isolates into susceptible tomato cultivars.     

Mutations in Hemagglutinin and Polymerase Alter the Virulence of Pandemic A(H1N1) Influenza Virus

To study the pathogenicity factors of the pandemic A(H1N1) influenza virus, a number of mutant variants of the A/Hamburg/5/2009 (H1N1)pdm09 strain were obtained through passage in chicken embryos, mouse lungs, and MDCK cell culture. After 17 lung-to-lung passages of the A/Hamburg/5/2009 in mice, the minimum lethal dose of the derived variant decreased by five orders of magnitude compared to that of the parental virus. This variant differed from the original virus by nine amino acid residues in the following viral proteins: hemagglutinin (HA), neuraminidase (NA), and components of the polymerase complex. Additional passaging of the intermediate variants and cloning made it possible to obtain pairs of strains that differed by a single amino acid substitution. Comparative analysis of replicative activity, receptor specificity, and virulence of these variants revealed two mechanisms responsible for increased pathogenicity of the virus for mice. Thus, (1) substitutions in HA (Asp225Gly or Gln226Arg) and compensatory mutation decreasing the charge of HA (Lys123Asn, Lys157Asn, Gly158Glu, Asn159Asp, or Lys212Met) altered viral receptor-binding specificity and restored the functional balance between HA and NA; (2) Phe35Leu substitution in the PA protein increased viral polymerase activity.     

Cross-Protection and Multiplication of Mild and Severe Strains of TMV in Tomato Plants

The presence of virus having mixed coats has been demonstrated serologically in tomato plants cross-protected with a mild strain (M 11–16) against the severe (UI) strain of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). The proportion of virus having mixed coats remained constant throughout at ca. 40% even in top leaves where severe symptoms caused by the challenge virus (U1) first appeared. The symptoms caused by the U1 in doubly-inoculated plants occurred in the leaves where:

• (a) the amout of total virus (irrespective of the type of coat) protein was 52% that of U1 strain in singly inoculated plants,
• (b) the multiplication of the severe U1 strain was reduced to only 9% as compared with the leaves singly inoculated with U1,
• (c) the ratio of severe to mild strain was increased to near equality although there was a significant reduction in the multiplication of U1in these leaves,
• (d) the amount of infective U1RNA started to increase.

     

Transgenic tobacco plants expressing a coat protein gene of tobacco mosaic virus are resistant to some other tobamoviruses

Transgenic tobacco plants expressing the coat protein (CP) gene of tobacco mosaic virus were tested for resistance against infection by five other tobamoviruses sharing 45-82% homology in CP amino acid sequence with the CP of tobacco mosaic virus. The transgenic plants (CP+) showed significant delays in systemic disease development after inoculation with tomato mosaic virus or tobacco mild green mosaic virus compared to the control (CP-) plants, but showed no resistance against infection by ribgrass mosaic virus. On a transgenic local lesion host, the CP+ plants showed greatly reduced numbers of necrotic lesions compared to the CP- plants after inoculation with tomato mosaic virus, pepper mild mottle virus, tobacco mild green mosaic virus, and Odontoglossum ringspot virus but not ribgrass mosaic virus. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to the possible mechanism(s) of CP-mediated protection.     

Creating a Novel Origin of Replication through Modulating DNA-Protein Interfaces

Background

While the molecular mechanisms of DNA-protein specificity at the origin of replication have been determined in many model organisms, these interactions remain unknown in the majority of higher eukaryotes and numerous vertebrate viruses. Similar to many viral origins of replication, adeno-associated virus (AAV) utilizes a cis-acting origin of replication and a virus specific Replication protein (Rep) to faithfully carry out self-priming replication. The mechanisms of AAV DNA replication are generally well understood. However, the molecular basis of specificity between the Rep protein and the viral origin of replication between different AAV serotypes remains uncharacterized.

Methodology/Principal Findings

By generating a panel of chimeric and mutant origins between two AAV serotypes, we have mapped two independent DNA-Protein interfaces involved in replicative specificity. In vivo replication assays and structural modeling demonstrated that three residues in the AAV2 Rep active site are necessary to cleave its cognate origin. An analogous origin (AAV5) possesses a unique interaction between an extended Rep binding element and a 49 aa region of Rep containing two DNA binding interfaces.

Conclusions/Significance

The elucidation of these structure-function relationships at the AAV origin led to the creation of a unique recombinant origin and compatible Rep protein with properties independent of either parent serotype. This novel origin may impact the safety and efficacy of AAV as a gene delivery tool. This work may also explain the unique ability of certain AAV serotypes to achieve site-directed integration into the human chromosome. Finally, this result impacts the study of conserved DNA viruses which employ rolling circle mechanisms of replication.     

Simian virus 40 mutant T antigens with relaxed specificity for the nucleotide sequence at the viral DNA origin of replication.

Base substitution of the ori region of simian virus 40 leads to plaque morphology mutants with markedly decreased DNA replication. Second-site mutations within the simian virus 40 T antigen gene suppress the plaque phenotype and replication defect of base-substituted ori mutants. Two second-site mutations have been mapped to a small segment of the T antigen gene, just beyond the distal splice junction. DNA sequence analysis revealed a single missense change in this segment of the T antigen gene of each of these second-site revertants, leading to a change in codon 157 in one case and codon 166 in the other. The mutant T antigens displayed relaxed specificity for the ori signal, i.e., they can function with several variously modified ori sequences, including those with small nucleotide deletions or insertions that are inactive for replication when coupled with wild-type T antigen. Thus a region of T antigen has been identified that appears to be intimately involved in vivo in binding to the ori sequence to initiate viral DNA replication.     

Exonuclease III promotes in vitro binding of the replication initiator protein of plasmid pSC101 to the repeated sequences in the ori region

Purified Rep protein, a replication initiator protein of plasmid pSC101, has less binding affinity for the direct repeats (DR) in the replication origin region (ori) than that for the inverted repeats (IR) in the promoter region of the structure gene of Rep (rep) (Sugiura, S. et al. (1990) J. Biochem. 107, 369-376). We found a protein factor that promotes binding of purified Rep to the DR sequence in the cell extract of Escherichia coli. In the presence of the factor, DNA fragments containing the DR sequence can form a specific DNA-protein complex by the addition of low concentrations of Rep. On the contrary, IR-containing DNA loses its binding activity for Rep by preincubation with the factor. We purified extensively the factor and identified it as exonuclease III (exo III). Enzymatic action of the factor or authentic exo III at 37 degrees C is necessary for binding of Rep to DR-DNA. This binding of Rep to duplex DNA treated with exo III is DR-sequence specific. Since Rep cannot bind to the single stranded DR sequence, the present finding suggests that partial single-stranded regions around the DR sequence are required for binding of Rep.