Viruses are devastating pathogens of humans, animals, and plants. To further our understanding of how viruses use the resources of infected cells, we systematically tested the yeast single-gene-knockout library for the effect of each host gene on the replication of tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV), a positive-strand RNA virus of plants. The genome-wide screen identified 96 host genes whose absence either reduced or increased the accumulation of the TBSV replicon. The identified genes are involved in the metabolism of nucleic acids, lipids, proteins, and other compounds and in protein targeting/transport. Comparison with published genome-wide screens reveals that the replication of TBSV and brome mosaic virus (BMV), which belongs to a different supergroup among plus-strand RNA viruses, is affected by vastly different yeast genes. Moreover, a set of yeast genes involved in vacuolar targeting of proteins and vesicle-mediated transport both affected replication of the TBSV replicon and enhanced the cytotoxicity of the Parkinson's disease-related α-synuclein when this protein was expressed in yeast. In addition, a set of host genes involved in ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolism affected both TBSV replication and the cytotoxicity of a mutant huntingtin protein, a candidate agent in Huntington's disease. This finding suggests that virus infection and disease-causing proteins might use or alter similar host pathways and may suggest connections between chronic diseases and prior virus infection.

Plus-stranded RNA viruses replicate in infected cells by assembling viral replicase complexes consisting of viral- and host-coded proteins. Previous genome-wide screens with Tomato bushy stunt tombusvirus (TBSV) in a yeast model host revealed the involvement of seven ESCRT (endosomal sorting complexes required for transport) proteins in viral replication. In this paper, we show that the expression of dominant negative Vps23p, Vps24p, Snf7p, and Vps4p ESCRT factors inhibited virus replication in the plant host, suggesting that tombusviruses co-opt selected ESCRT proteins for the assembly of the viral replicase complex. We also show that TBSV p33 replication protein interacts with Vps23p ESCRT-I and Bro1p accessory ESCRT factors. The interaction with p33 leads to the recruitment of Vps23p to the peroxisomes, the sites of TBSV replication. The viral replicase showed reduced activity and the minus-stranded viral RNA in the replicase became more accessible to ribonuclease when derived from vps23Δ or vps24Δ yeast, suggesting that the protection of the viral RNA is compromised within the replicase complex assembled in the absence of ESCRT proteins. The recruitment of ESCRT proteins is needed for the precise assembly of the replicase complex, which might help the virus evade recognition by the host defense surveillance system and/or prevent viral RNA destruction by the gene silencing machinery. Plus-stranded RNA viruses, which are important pathogens of humans, animals and plants, replicate in infected cells by assembling viral replicase complexes consisting of viral- and host-coded proteins. In this paper, we show that a group of host factors called ESCRT proteins (endosomal sorting complexes required for transport) play important roles in tombusvirus replication. The expression of dominant negative mutants of ESCRT factors inhibited virus replication in the plant host, suggesting that tombusviruses co-opt selected ESCRT proteins for the assembly of the viral replicase complex. In addition, we show direct interaction between the viral p33 replication protein and Vps23p ESCRT-I and Bro1p accessory ESCRT factors. The interaction with p33 leads to the recruitment of Vps23p to the peroxisomes, the sites of tombusvirus replication. We also showed that the viral RNA within the viral replicase complex became more sensitive to ribonuclease in the absence of ESCRT factors, suggesting that the protection of the viral RNA is compromised within the replicase complex assembled in the absence of ESCRT proteins. Intriguingly, the host ESCRT factors also affect the budding of several enveloped viruses, intracellular transport of proteins and cytokinesis. Overall, this work demonstrates that a plus-stranded RNA virus uses the endosomal sorting pathway in a unique way.

The mechanism of template selection for genome replication in plus-strand RNA viruses is poorly understood. Using the prototypical tombusvirus, Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV), we show that recombinant p33 replicase protein binds specifically to an internal replication element (IRE) located within the p92 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase coding region of the viral genome. Specific binding of p33 to the IRE in vitro depends on the presence of a C · C mismatch within a conserved RNA helix. Interestingly, the absence of the p33:p33/p92 interaction domain in p33 prevented specific but allowed nonspecific RNA binding, suggesting that a multimeric form of this protein is involved in the IRE-specific interaction. Further support for the selectivity of p33 binding in vitro was provided by the inability of the replicase proteins of the closely related Turnip crinkle virus and distantly related Hepatitis C virus to specifically recognize the TBSV IRE. Importantly, there was also a strong correlation between p33:IRE complex formation in vitro and viral replication in vivo, where mutations in the IRE that disrupted selective p33 binding in vitro also abolished TBSV RNA replication both in plant and in Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells. Based on these findings and the other known properties of p33 and the IRE, it is proposed that the p33:IRE interaction provides a mechanism to selectively recruit viral RNAs into cognate viral replicase complexes. Since all genera in Tombusviridae encode comparable replicase proteins, these results may be relevant to other members of this large virus family.

Plus-strand RNA virus replication occurs via the assembly of viral replicase complexes involving multiple viral and host proteins. To identify host proteins present in the cucumber necrosis tombusvirus (CNV) replicase, we affinity purified functional viral replicase complexes from yeast. Mass spectrometry analysis of proteins resolved by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed the presence of CNV p33 and p92 replicase proteins as well as four major host proteins in the CNV replicase. The host proteins included the Ssa1/2p molecular chaperones (yeast homologues of Hsp70 proteins), Tdh2/3p (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, an RNA-binding protein), Pdc1p (pyruvate decarboxylase), and an unknown ∼35-kDa acidic protein. Copurification experiments demonstrated that Ssa1p bound to p33 replication protein in vivo, and surface plasmon resonance measurements with purified recombinant proteins confirmed this interaction in vitro. The double mutant strain ( ssa1 ssa2 ) showed 75% reduction in viral RNA accumulation, whereas overexpression of either Ssa1p or Ssa2p stimulated viral RNA replication by approximately threefold. The activity of the purified CNV replicase correlated with viral RNA replication in the above-mentioned ssa1 ssa2 mutant and in the Ssa overexpression strains, suggesting that Ssa1/2p likely plays an important role in the assembly of the CNV replicase.