Complex spatial responses to cucumber mosaic virus infection in susceptible Cucurbita pepo cotyledons

Cucumber mosaic virus infection of its susceptible host Cucurbita pepo results in a program of biochemical changes after virus infection. Applying a spatial analysis to expanding infected lesions, we investigated the relationship between the changes in enzyme activity and gene expression. Patterns of altered expression were seen that could not be detected by RNA gel blot analysis. For all the host genes studied, there was a downregulation (shutoff) of expression within the lesion. In addition, two distinct types of upregulation were observed. The expression of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and NADP(+)-dependent malic enzyme (NADP-ME) showed induction in apparently uninfected cells ahead of the infection. This response was more localized than the upregulation exhibited by catalase expression, which occurred throughout the uninfected regions of the tissue. The experiments showed that virus infection induced immediate and subsequent changes in gene expression by the host and that the infection has the potential to give advance signaling of the imminent infection.