The potato was introduced to Europe from the Andes of South America in the 16th century, and today it is grown worldwide; it is a nutritious staple food eaten by millions and underpins food security in many countries. Unknowingly, potato virus Y (PVY) was also introduced through trade in infected potato tubers, and it has become the most important viral pathogen of potato. Phylogenetic analysis has revealed the spread and emergence of strains of PVY, including strains causing economically important diseases in tobacco, tomato and pepper, and that the virus continues to evolve with the relatively recent emergence of new damaging recombinant strains. High-throughput, next-generation sequencing platforms provide powerful tools for detection, identification and surveillance of new PVY strains. Aphid vectors of PVY are expected to increase in incidence and abundance in a warmer climate, which will increase the risk of virus spread. Wider deployment of crop cultivars carrying virus resistance will be an important means of defence against infection. New cutting-edge biotechnological tools such as CRISPR and SIGS offer a means for rapid engineering of resistance in established cultivars. We conclude that in future, human activities and ingenuity should be brought to bear to control PVY and the emergence of new strains in key crops by increased focus on host resistance and factors driving virus evolution and spread.

Virus movement proteins facilitate virus entry into the vascular system to initiate systemic infection. The potato mop-top virus (PMTV) movement protein, TGB1, is involved in long-distance movement of both viral ribonucleoprotein complexes and virions. Here, our analysis of TGB1 interactions with host Nicotiana benthamiana proteins revealed an interaction with a member of the heavy metal-associated isoprenylated plant protein family, HIPP26, which acts as a plasma membrane-to-nucleus signal during abiotic stress. We found that knockdown of NbHIPP26 expression inhibited virus long-distance movement but did not affect cell-to-cell movement. Drought and PMTV infection up-regulated NbHIPP26 gene expression, and PMTV infection protected plants from drought. In addition, NbHIPP26 promoter-reporter fusions revealed vascular tissue-specific expression. Mutational and biochemical analyses indicated that NbHIPP26 subcellular localization at the plasma membrane and plasmodesmata was mediated by lipidation (S-acylation and prenylation), as nonlipidated NbHIPP26 was predominantly in the nucleus. Notably, coexpression of NbHIPP26 with TGB1 resulted in a similar nuclear accumulation of NbHIPP26. TGB1 interacted with the carboxyl-terminal CVVM (prenyl) domain of NbHIPP26, and bimolecular fluorescence complementation revealed that the TGB1-HIPP26 complex localized to microtubules and accumulated in the nucleolus, with little signal at the plasma membrane or plasmodesmata. These data support a mechanism where interaction with TGB1 negates or reverses NbHIPP26 lipidation, thus releasing membrane-associated NbHIPP26 and redirecting it via microtubules to the nucleus, thereby activating the drought stress response and facilitating virus long-distance movement.

The potato mop-top virus (PMTV) triple gene block 2 (TGB2) movement proteins fused to monomeric red fluorescent protein (mRFP-TGB2) was expressed under the control of the PMTV subgenomic promoter from a PMTV vector. The subcellular localizations and interactions of mRFP-TGB2 were investigated using confocal imaging [confocal laser-scanning microscope, (CLSM)] and biochemical analysis. The results revealed associations with membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), mobile granules, small round structures (1–2 μm in diameter), and chloroplasts. Expression of mRFP-TGB2 in epidermal cells enabled cell-to-cell movement of a TGB2 defective PMTV reporter clone, indicating that the mRFP-TGB2 fusion protein was functional and required for cell-to-cell movement. Protein-lipid interaction assays revealed an association between TGB2 and lipids present in chloroplasts, consistent with microscopical observations where the plastid envelope was labeled later in infection. To further investigate the association of PMTV infection with chloroplasts, ultrastructural studies of thin sections of PMTV-infected potato and Nicotiana benthamiana leaves by electron microscopy revealed abnormal chloroplasts with cytoplasmic inclusions and terminal projections. Viral coat protein (CP), genomic RNA and fluorescently-labeled TGB2 were detected in plastid preparations isolated from the infected leaves, and viral RNA was localized to chloroplasts in infected tissues. The results reveal a novel association of TGB2 and vRNA with chloroplasts, and suggest viral replication is associated with chloroplast membranes, and that TGB2 plays a novel role in targeting the virus to chloroplasts.

Potato mop-top pomovirus (PMTV) is one of a few viruses that can move systemically in plants in the absence of the coat protein (CP). Pomoviruses encode the triple gene block genetic module of movement proteins (TGB 1, 2 & 3) and recent research suggests that PMTV RNA is transported either as ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes containing TGB1 or encapsidated in virions containing TGB1. Furthermore, there are different requirements for local or systemic (long distance) movement. Research suggests that nucleolar passage of TGB1 may be important for the long distance movement of both RNP and virions. Moreover, and uniquely, the long distance movement of the CP-encoding RNA requires expression of both major and minor CP subunits and is inhibited when only the major CP sub unit is expressed. This paper reviews recent pomovirus research and presents a current model for RNA movement.

Four monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were prepared against an isolate of soilborne wheat mosaic furovirus from Oklahoma (SBWMV Okl-7). Three MAbs had different reactivities in tests on SBWMV isolates from Nebraska (Lab1), France, and Japan. One MAb (SCR 133) also reacted with oat golden stripe furovirus. None of the MAbs cross-reacted with other rod-shaped viruses including beet necrotic yellow vein furovirus, potato mop-top furovirus, and tobacco rattle tobravirus. Sequence analysis of nucleotides between 334 and 1,000 of RNA 2, the region that encodes the coat protein (CP) and the first 44 amino acids of a readthrough protein, of the four SBWMV isolates revealed up to 27 base changes from the published sequence of a Nebraska field isolate of SBWMV. Most changes were translationally silent, but some caused differences of one to three amino acids in residues located near either the N- or C-terminus of the CPs of the different isolates. Two further single amino acid changes were found at the beginning of the readthrough domain of the CP-readthrough protein. Some of these amino acid changes could be discriminated by MAbs SCR 132, SCR 133, and SCR 134. Peptide scanning (Pepscan) analysis indicated that the epitope recognized by SCR 134 is located near the N-terminus of the CP. SCR 132 was deduced to react with a discontinuous CP epitope near the C-terminus, and SCR 133 reacted with a surface-located continuous epitope also near the C-terminus. Predictions of CP structure from computer-assisted three-dimensional model building, by comparison with the X-ray fiber diffraction structure of tobacco mosaic virus, suggested that the three CP amino acids found to differ between isolates of SBWMV were located near the viral surface and were in regions predicted to be antigenic.