A Host Small GTP-binding Protein ARL8 Plays Crucial Roles in Tobamovirus RNA Replication

Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), like other eukaryotic positive-strand RNA viruses, replicates its genomic RNA in replication complexes formed on intracellular membranes. Previous studies showed that a host seven-pass transmembrane protein TOM1 is necessary for efficient ToMV multiplication. Here, we show that a small GTP-binding protein ARL8, along with TOM1, is co-purified with a FLAG epitope-tagged ToMV 180K replication protein from solubilized membranes of ToMV-infected tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cells. When solubilized membranes of ToMV-infected tobacco cells that expressed FLAG-tagged ARL8 were subjected to immunopurification with anti-FLAG antibody, ToMV 130K and 180K replication proteins and TOM1 were co-purified and the purified fraction showed RNA-dependent RNA polymerase activity that transcribed ToMV RNA. From uninfected cells, TOM1 co-purified with FLAG-tagged ARL8 less efficiently, suggesting that a complex containing ToMV replication proteins, TOM1, and ARL8 are formed on membranes in infected cells. In Arabidopsis thaliana, ARL8 consists of four family members. Simultaneous mutations in two specific ARL8 genes completely inhibited tobamovirus multiplication. In an in vitro ToMV RNA translation-replication system, the lack of either TOM1 or ARL8 proteins inhibited the production of replicative-form RNA, indicating that TOM1 and ARL8 are required for efficient negative-strand RNA synthesis. When ToMV 130K protein was co-expressed with TOM1 and ARL8 in yeast, RNA 5′-capping activity was detected in the membrane fraction. This activity was undetectable or very weak when the 130K protein was expressed alone or with either TOM1 or ARL8. Taken together, these results suggest that TOM1 and ARL8 are components of ToMV RNA replication complexes and play crucial roles in a process toward activation of the replication proteins' RNA synthesizing and capping functions

The initiation site for transcription of the TMV 30-kDa protein messenger RNA

AbstractThe initiation site for transcripotion of the 30-kDa protein mRNA of tobacco mosaic virus was mapped uniquely at residue 1558 from the 3'-terminus on TMV RNA using the primer-extension and the S1-nuclease mapping method

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

Tomato Mosaic Virus Replication Protein Suppresses Virus-Targeted Posttranscriptional Gene Silencing

Posttranscriptional gene silencing (PTGS), a homology-dependent RNA degradation system, has a role in defending against virus infection in plants, but plant viruses encode a suppressor to combat PTGS. Using transgenic tobacco in which the expression of green fluorescent protein (GFP) is posttranscriptionally silenced, we investigated a tomato mosaic virus (ToMV)-encoded PTGS suppressor. Infection with wild-type ToMV (L strain) interrupted GFP silencing in tobacco, coincident with visible symptoms, whereas some attenuated strains of ToMV (L(11) and L(11)A strains) failed to suppress GFP silencing. Analyses of recombinant viruses containing the L and L(11)A strains revealed that a single base change in the replicase gene, which causes an amino acid substitution, is responsible for the symptomless and suppressor-defective phenotypes of the attenuated strains. An agroinfiltration assay indicated that the 130K replication protein acts as a PTGS suppressor. Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) of 21 to 25 nucleotides accumulated during ToMV infection, suggesting that the major target of the ToMV-encoded suppressor is downstream from the production of siRNAs in the PTGS pathway. Analysis with GFP-tagged recombinant viruses revealed that the suppressor inhibits the establishment of the ToMV-targeted PTGS system in the inoculated leaves but does not detectably suppress the activity of the preexisting, sequence-specific PTGS machinery there. Taken together, these results indicate that it is likely that the ToMV-encoded suppressor, the 130K replication protein, blocks the utilization of silencing-associated small RNAs, so that a homology-dependent RNA degradation machinery is not newly formed