Summary: Virus vectors carrying host‐derived sequence inserts induce silencing of the corresponding genes in infected plants. This virus‐induced gene silencing (VIGS) is a manifestation of an RNA‐mediated defence mechanism that is related to post‐transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) in transgenic plants. Here we describe an infectious cDNA clone of tobacco rattle virus (TRV) that has been modified to facilitate insertion of non‐viral sequence and subsequent infection to plants. We show that this vector mediates VIGS of endogenous genes in the absence of virus‐induced symptoms. Unlike other RNA virus vectors that have been used previously for VIGS, the TRV construct is able to target host RNAs in the growing points of plants. These features indicate that the TRV vector will have wide application for gene discovery in plants.

Volume 24, Number 9—September 2018 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal - CDC

RNA silencing is a host defense mechanism that limits the accumulation and spread of viruses in infected plants. Correspondingly, plant viruses encode suppressors of silencing. In the positive-strand RNA virus Tobacco rattle virus (TRV), the suppressor of silencing is a 16-kDa (16K) protein encoded by RNA1. The suppressor action of the 16K protein is transient and weaker than that of the P19 suppressor, encoded by tomato bushy stunt virus. Mutant TRV that does not produce its suppressor, unlike other suppressor-defective viruses, is competent to accumulate and spread systemically in the infected plant. However, this mutant virus does not exhibit the transient invasion of the meristem that is characteristic of the wild-type virus. Based on this analysis, we propose that the 16K suppressor of silencing allows TRV to transiently invade the meristem. Our data are consistent with a mechanism of long-term meristem virus exclusion that is dependent on a transient invasion of the meristem early in the infection cycle. This novel mechanism of meristem exclusion may be associated with the phenomenon of recovery in virus-infected plants in which upper leaves have little or no virus and are immune to secondary infection by the same virus.

The P1 protein of viruses of the familyPotyviridaeis a serine proteinase, which is highly variable in length and sequence, and its role in the virus infection cycle is not clear. One of the proposed activities of P1 is to assist HCPro, the product that viruses of the genusPotyvirususe to counteract antiviral defense mediated by RNA silencing. Indeed, an HCPro-coding region is present in all the genomes of members of the generaPotyvirus,Rymovirus, andTritimovirusthat have been sequenced. However, it was recently reported that a sequence coding for HCPro is lacking in the genome ofCucumber vein yellowing virus(CVYV), a member of the genusIpomovirus, the fourth monopartite genus of the family. In this study, we provide further evidence that P1 enhances the activity of HCPro in members of the genusPotyvirusand show that it is duplicated in the ipomovirus CVYV. The two CVYV P1 copies are arranged in tandem, and the second copy (P1b) has RNA silencing suppression activity. CVYV P1b suppressed RNA silencing induced either by sense green fluorescent protein (GFP) mRNA or by a GFP inverted repeat RNA, indicating that CVYV P1b acts downstream of the formation of double-stranded RNA. CVYV P1b also suppressed local silencing in agroinfiltrated patches of transgenicNicotiana benthamianaline 16c and delayed its propagation to the neighboring cells. However, neither the short-distance nor long-distance systemic spread of silencing of the GFP transgene was completely blocked by CVYV P1b. CVYV P1b and P1-HCPro from the potyvirusPlum pox virusshowed very similar behaviors in all the assays carried out, suggesting that evolution has found a way to counteract RNA silencing by similar mechanisms using very different proteins in viruses of the same family.

Tyr115 is located in the vicinity of the polymerase catalytic site of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to generate variant enzymes having Phe, Trp, Ala, Ser, Asp or Lys instead of Tyr115. The substitution of Tyr115 by Phe renders a fully active polymerase, displaying similar kinetic parameters, processivity and misinsertion fidelity of DNA synthesis as the wild-type enzyme. In contrast, the replacement of Tyr by Asp or Lys produced enzymes with a very low polymerase activity. The activity of the variant enzymes having Trp, Ala or Ser instead of Tyr115 was reduced significantly, particularly when poly(rA)484 was used as template. This effect was caused by a dramatic increase in the Km value for dTTP, and was detected using a DNA template mimicking a proviral HIV-1 gag sequence. Misinsertion fidelity assays revealed that mutants Y115W, Y115A and Y115S had a higher misinsertion efficiency than the wild-type reverse transcriptase. The low fidelity of these mutants appears to be related to nucleotide recognition rather than altered DNA-DNA template-primer interactions. The effects observed on the steady state kinetic constants, processivity and fidelity were mediated by the 66 kDa subunit, as demonstrated using chimeric heterodimers with the Y115A substitution in either p66 or p51.