Pepper mild mottle virus can infect and traffick within Nicotiana benthamiana plants in non-virion forms

Kaiyue Zheng; Ruihao Zhang; Qionglian Wan; Ge Zhang; Yuwen Lu; Hongying Zheng; Fei Yan; Jiejun Peng; Jian Wu

doi:10.1016/j.virol.2023.109881

Pepper mild mottle virus can infect and traffick within Nicotiana benthamiana plants in non-virion forms

Virology. 2023 Oct:587:109881. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2023.109881. Epub 2023 Sep 9.

Authors

Kaiyue Zheng¹, Ruihao Zhang², Qionglian Wan³, Ge Zhang¹, Yuwen Lu¹, Hongying Zheng¹, Fei Yan¹, Jiejun Peng⁴, Jian Wu⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agroproducts, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, Zhejiang, China.
² Horticulture Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Kunming, 650205, Yunnan, China.
³ State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agroproducts, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, Zhejiang, China; School of Chemistry, Biology and Environment, Yuxi Normal University, Yuxi, 653100, Yunnan, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agroproducts, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, Zhejiang, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁵ State Key Laboratory for Managing Biotic and Chemical Threats to the Quality and Safety of Agroproducts, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology in Plant Protection of MARA and Zhejiang Province, Institute of Plant Virology, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, Zhejiang, China. Electronic address: [email protected].

PMID: 37703796
DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2023.109881

Abstract

Virions are responsible for the long-distance transport of many viruses, such as Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV). Emerging evidence indicates viral traffic in the form of ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNP), yet comprehensive analysis is scarce. In this study, we inoculated plants with PMMoV-GFP, both with and without the coding sequence for the coat protein (CP). PMMoV-GFP was detected in systemic leaves, even in the absence of the CP, despite the presence of much smaller infection areas. Moreover, using leaf extracts from PMMoV-infected plants to perform a root-irrigation experiment, we confirmed that PMMoV can infect plants through root transmission. Diluting the leaf extracts significantly diminished infectivity, and attempts to compensate for the dilution of other components by adding virions above the original level proved ineffective. Our findings strongly indicate that PMMoV can infect and traffick within plants in non-virion forms. Future studies should aim to identify the specific forms involved.

Keywords: Coat protein; Long-distance transport; Non-virion form; Pepper mild mottle virus; Root infection; Virus transport.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Nicotiana*
Tobamovirus* / genetics
Virion / genetics

Supplementary concepts

Pepper mild mottle virus