Faculty Opinions recommendation of Evidence that RNA silencing functions as an antiviral defense mechanism in fungi.

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Catcheside
Keyword(s):  
Rna Silencing ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Antiviral Defense

scholarly journals The Suppressor of Transgene RNA Silencing Encoded by Cucumber mosaic virus Interferes with Salicylic Acid-Mediated Virus Resistance

2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 715-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang-Hui Ji ◽  
Shou-Wei Ding
Keyword(s):  
Salicylic Acid ◽  
Cucumber Mosaic Virus ◽  
Mosaic Virus ◽  
Virus Resistance ◽  
Rna Silencing ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Antiviral Defense ◽  
Oxidase Gene ◽  
Systemic Spread ◽  
Systemic Infections

The Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV)-encoded 2b protein (Cmv2b) is a nuclear protein that suppresses transgene RNA silencing in Nicotiana benthamiana. Cmv2b is an important virulence determinant but nonessential for systemic spread in N. glutinosa, in contrast to its indispensable role for systemic infections in cucumber. Here, we report that Cmv2b became essential for systemic infections in older N. glutinosa plants or in young seedlings pre-treated with salicylic acid (SA). Expression of Cmv2b from the genome of either CMV or Tobacco mosaic virus significantly reduced the inhibitory effect of SA on virus accumulation in inoculated leaves and systemic leaves. A close correlation is demonstrated between Cmv2b expression and a reduced SA-dependent induction of the alternative oxidase gene, a component of the recently proposed SA-regulated antiviral defense. These results collectively reveal a novel activity of Cmv2b in the inhibition of SA-mediated virus resistance. We used a N. tabacum line expressing a bacterial nahG transgene that degrades SA to provide evidence for a Cmv2b-sensitive antiviral defense mechanism in tobacco in which SA acts as a positive modifier but not as an essential component. We propose that SA induces virus resistance by potentiating a RNA-silencing antiviral defense that is targeted by Cmv2b.

scholarly journals Antiviral Defense Involves AGO4 in an Arabidopsis–Potexvirus Interaction

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 878-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal Brosseau ◽  
Mohamed El Oirdi ◽  
Ayooluwa Adurogbangba ◽  
Xiaofang Ma ◽  
Peter Moffett
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Nuclear Localization ◽  
Rna Silencing ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Rna Viruses ◽  
Antiviral Defense ◽  
Double Stranded Rna ◽  
Micro Rnas ◽  
Plantago Asiatica ◽  
Antiviral Activities

In plants, RNA silencing regulates gene expression through the action of Dicer-like (DCL) and Argonaute (AGO) proteins via micro RNAs and RNA-dependent DNA methylation (RdDM). In addition, RNA silencing functions as an antiviral defense mechanism by targeting virus-derived double-stranded RNA. Plants encode multiple AGO proteins with specialized functions, including AGO4-like proteins that affect RdDM and AGO2, AGO5, and AGO1, which have antiviral activities. Here, we show that AGO4 is also required for defense against the potexvirus Plantago asiatica mosaic virus (PlAMV), most likely independent of RdDM components such as DCL3, Pol IV, and Pol V. Transient assays showed that AGO4 has direct antiviral activity on PlAMV and, unlike RdDM, this activity does not require nuclear localization of AGO4. Furthermore, although PlAMV infection causes a decrease in AGO4 expression, PlAMV causes a change in AGO4 localization from a largely nuclear to a largely cytoplasmic distribution. These results indicate an important role for AGO4 in targeting plant RNA viruses as well as demonstrating novel mechanisms of regulation of and by AGO4, independent of its canonical role in regulating gene expression by RdDM.

scholarly journals Evidence that RNA silencing functions as an antiviral defense mechanism in fungi

2007 ◽  
Vol 104 (31) ◽  
pp. 12902-12906 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. C. Segers ◽  
X. Zhang ◽  
F. Deng ◽  
Q. Sun ◽  
D. L. Nuss
Keyword(s):  
Rna Silencing ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Antiviral Defense

scholarly journals Regulation of the protein kinase PKR by the vaccinia virus pseudosubstrate inhibitor K3L is dependent on residues conserved between the K3L protein and the PKR substrate eIF2alpha.

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 4146-4158 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Kawagishi-Kobayashi ◽  
J B Silverman ◽  
T L Ung ◽  
T E Dever
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Protein Kinase ◽  
Vaccinia Virus ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Mutational Analysis ◽  
Substrate Recognition ◽  
Phosphorylation Site ◽  
Antiviral Defense ◽  
Loss Of Function ◽  
Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae

The mammalian double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase PKR is a component of the cellular antiviral defense mechanism and phosphorylates Ser-51 on the alpha subunit of the translation factor eIF2 to inhibit protein synthesis. To identify the molecular determinants that specify substrate recognition by PKR, we performed a mutational analysis on the vaccinia virus K3L protein, a pseudosubstrate inhibitor of PKR. High-level expression of PKR is lethal in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae because PKR phosphorylates eIF2alpha and inhibits protein synthesis. We show that coexpression of vaccinia virus K3L can suppress the growth-inhibitory effects of PKR in yeast, and using this system, we identified both loss-of-function and hyperactivating mutations in K3L. Truncation of, or point mutations within, the C-terminal portion of the K3L protein, homologous to residues 79 to 83 in eIF2alpha, abolished PKR inhibitory activity, whereas the hyperactivating mutation, K3L-H47R, increased the homology between the K3L protein and eIF2alpha adjacent to the phosphorylation site at Ser-51. Biochemical and yeast two-hybrid analyses revealed that the suppressor phenotype of the K3L mutations correlated with the affinity of the K3L protein for PKR and was inversely related to the level of eIF2alpha phosphorylation in the cell. These results support the idea that residues conserved between the pseudosubstrate K3L protein and the authentic substrate eIF2alpha play an important role in substrate recognition, and they suggest that PKR utilizes sequences both near and over 30 residues from the site of phosphorylation for substrate recognition. Finally, by reconstituting part of the mammalian antiviral defense mechanism in yeast, we have established a genetically useful system to study viral regulators of PKR.

scholarly journals Hypovirus Papain-Like Protease p29 Suppresses RNA Silencing in the Natural Fungal Host and in a Heterologous Plant System

2006 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 896-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerrit C. Segers ◽  
Rene van Wezel ◽  
Xuemei Zhang ◽  
Yiguo Hong ◽  
Donald L. Nuss
Keyword(s):  
Rna Silencing ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Fluorescent Protein ◽  
Cryphonectria Parasitica ◽  
Fungal Host ◽  
Chestnut Blight Fungus ◽  
Systemic Spread ◽  
Green Fluorescent ◽  
Fungal Viruses ◽  
Suppressor Of Rna Silencing

ABSTRACT Virulence-attenuating hypoviruses of the species Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 (CHV1) encode a papain-like protease, p29, that shares similarities with the potyvirus-encoded suppressor of RNA silencing HC-Pro. We now report that hypovirus CHV1-EP713-encoded p29 can suppress RNA silencing in the natural host, the chestnut blight fungus Cryphonectria parasitica. Hairpin RNA-triggered silencing was suppressed in C. parasitica strains expressing p29, and transformation of a transgenic green fluorescent protein (GFP)-silenced strain with p29 resulted in an increased number of transformants with elevated GFP expression levels. The CHV1-EP713 p29 protein was also shown to suppress both virus-induced and agroinfiltration-induced RNA silencing and systemic spread of silencing in GFP-expressing transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana line 16c plants. The demonstration that a mycovirus encodes a suppressor of RNA silencing provides circumstantial evidence that RNA silencing in fungi may serve as an antiviral defense mechanism. The observation that a phylogenetically conserved protein of related plant and fungal viruses functions as a suppressor of RNA silencing in both fungi and plants indicates a level of conservation of the mechanisms underlying RNA silencing in these two groups of organisms.

scholarly journals Evidence That RNA Silencing-Mediated Resistance to Beet necrotic yellow vein virus Is Less Effective in Roots Than in Leaves

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Bagus Andika ◽  
Hideki Kondo ◽  
Tetsuo Tamada
Keyword(s):  
Nicotiana Benthamiana ◽  
Rna Silencing ◽  
Defense Mechanism ◽  
Virus Titer ◽  
Virus Multiplication ◽  
Open Reading Frame ◽  
Yellow Vein ◽  
Polymyxa Betae ◽  
Small Interfering Rnas ◽  
Reading Frame

In plants, RNA silencing is part of a defense mechanism against virus infection but there is little information as to whether RNA silencing-mediated resistance functions similarly in roots and leaves. We have obtained transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana plants encoding the coat protein readthrough domain open reading frame (54 kDa) of Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV), which either showed a highly resistant or a recovery phenotype following foliar rub-inoculation with BNYVV. These phenotypes were associated with an RNA silencing mechanism. Roots of the resistant plants that were immune to foliar rub-inoculation with BNYVV could be infected by viruliferous zoospores of the vector fungus Polymyxa betae, although virus multiplication was greatly limited. In addition, virus titer was reduced in symptomless leaves of the plants showing the recovery phenotype, but it was high in roots of the same plants. Compared with leaves of silenced plants, higher levels of transgene mRNAs and lower levels of transgene-derived small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) accumulated in roots. Similarly, in nontransgenic plants inoculated with BNYVV, accumulation level of viral RNA-derived siRNAs in roots was lower than in leaves. These results indicate that the RNA silencing-mediated resistance to BNYVV is less effective in roots than in leaves.

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