Orchid fleck virus structural proteins N and P form intranuclear viroplasm-like structures in the absence of viral infection

J Virol. 2013 Jul;87(13):7423-34. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00270-13. Epub 2013 Apr 24.

Abstract

Orchid fleck virus (OFV) has a unique two-segmented negative-sense RNA genome that resembles that of plant nucleorhabdoviruses. In infected plant cells, OFV and nucleorhabdoviruses induce an intranuclear electron-lucent viroplasm that is believed to be the site for virus replication. In this study, we investigated the molecular mechanism by which OFV viroplasms are produced in vivo. Among OFV-encoded proteins, the nucleocapsid protein (N) and the putative phosphoprotein (P) were present in nuclear fractions of OFV-infected Nicotiana benthamiana plants. Transient coexpression of N and P, in the absence of virus infection, was shown to be sufficient for formation of an intranuclear viroplasm-like structure in plant cells. When expressed independently as a fluorescent protein fusion product in uninfected plant cells, N protein accumulated throughout the cell, while P protein accumulated in the nucleus. However, the N protein, when coexpressed with P, was recruited to a subnuclear region to induce a large viroplasm-like focus. Deletion and substitution mutagenesis demonstrated that the P protein contains a nuclear localization signal (NLS). Artificial nuclear targeting of the N-protein mutant was insufficient for formation of viroplasm-like structures in the absence of P. A bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay confirmed interactions between the N and P proteins within subnuclear viroplasm-like foci and interactions of two of the N. benthamiana importin-α homologues with the P protein but not with the N protein. Taken together, our results suggest that viroplasm formation by OFV requires nuclear accumulation of both the N and P proteins, which is mediated by P-NLS, unlike nucleorhabdovirus viroplasm utilizing the NLS on protein N.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Blotting, Western
  • Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel
  • Genetic Complementation Test
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Inclusion Bodies, Viral / metabolism*
  • Indoles
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Microscopy, Confocal
  • Microscopy, Electron
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Mutagenesis
  • Nicotiana / virology*
  • Nuclear Localization Signals / genetics
  • Nucleocapsid Proteins / genetics
  • Nucleocapsid Proteins / metabolism*
  • Phosphoproteins / genetics
  • Phosphoproteins / metabolism*
  • RNA Viruses / genetics*
  • RNA Viruses / metabolism
  • RNA Viruses / ultrastructure
  • Two-Hybrid System Techniques
  • alpha Karyopherins / metabolism

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Indoles
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Nuclear Localization Signals
  • Nucleocapsid Proteins
  • Phosphoproteins
  • alpha Karyopherins
  • yellow fluorescent protein, Bacteria
  • DAPI