Geminivirus replication enhancer (REn) proteins dramatically increase the accumulation of viral DNA species by an unknown mechanism. In this study, we present evidence implicating SlNAC1, a new member of the NAC domain protein family from tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), in Tomato leaf curl virus (TLCV) REn function. We isolated SlNAC1 using yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) two-hybrid technology and TLCV REn as bait, and confirmed the interaction between these proteins in vitro. TLCV induces SlNAC1 expression specifically in infected cells, and this upregulation requires REn. In a transient TLCV replication system, overexpression of SlNAC1 resulted in a substantial increase in viral DNA accumulation. SlNAC1 colocalized with REn to the nucleus and activated transcription of a reporter gene in yeast, suggesting that in healthy cells it functions as a transcription factor. Together, these results imply that SlNAC1 plays an important role in the process by which REn enhances TLCV replication.

DNA β is a circular single-stranded satellite DNA which co-infects with certain monopartite helper begomoviruses to cause economically important diseases, such as cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD). DNA β encodes a single protein, βC1. Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) is a bipartite begomovirus in which both DNA A and DNA B are required for systemic infection. Inoculation of tomato plants with ToLCNDV DNA A alone induced local but not systemic infection, whereas co-inoculation with DNA A and the DNA β associated with CLCuD resulted in systemic infection. DNA β containing a disrupted βC1 open reading frame (ORF) did not mobilize DNA A systemically. Co-inoculation of plants with DNA A and a construct of the βC1 ORF, under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter, resulted in the systemic movement of DNA A. In inoculated tobacco and onion epidermal cells, βC1 fused to GFP was localized at the cell periphery in association with punctate bodies, around and within the cell nucleus and with the endoplasmic reticulum. It is concluded that heterologous βC1 protein can replace the movement function of the DNA B of a bipartite begomovirus. Evidence is also provided that tomato leaf curl virus-encoded C4 protein confers the same movement function to ToLCNDV DNA A. The intracellular distribution of βC1 is consistent with the hypothesis that it has a role in transporting the DNA A from the nuclear site of replication to the plasmodesmatal exit sites of the infected cell.

DNA β is a single-stranded satellite DNA which encodes a single gene, βC1. To better understand the role of βC1 in the pathogenicity of DNA β, a yeast two-hybrid screen of a tomato cDNA library was carried out using βC1 from Cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMV) DNA β as the bait. A ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme, designated SlUBC3, which functionally complemented a yeast mutant deficient in ubiquitin-conjugating enzymes was identified. The authenticity and specificity of the interaction between βC1 and SlUBC3 was confirmed both in vivo, using a bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay, and in vitro, using a protein-binding assay. Analysis of deletion mutants of the βC1 protein showed that a myristoylation-like motif is required both for its interaction with SlUBC3 and the induction of DNA-β-specific symptoms in host plants. The level of polyubiquitinated proteins in transgenic tobacco plants expressing βC1 was found to be reduced compared with wild-type plants. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that interaction of βC1 with SlUBC3 is required for DNA-β-specific symptom induction, and that this is possibly due to downregulation of the host ubiquitin proteasome pathway.