Mutational analysis of the coat protein gene of tobacco mosaic virus in relation to hypersensitive response in tobacco plants with the N' gene.

Tomato strain L of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV-L) induces a hypersensitive response (necrotic local lesions) on tobacco plants with the N' gene. A factor responsible for induction of the hypersensitive response has been mapped to the coat protein gene. We have constructed several mutants which have insertions or deletions in the coat protein gene. Frame-shift mutants which cause premature termination of translation of the coat protein caused no necrotic local lesions on N' plants. Mutants which result in the expression of coat protein derivatives with one amino acid inserted after residue 56, 101, or 152 caused necrotic local lesions on N' plants. Deletion mutants lacking the coding region for fewer than the C-terminal 13 amino acid residues caused necrotic local lesions, whereas mutants lacking the coding region for the C-terminal 38 residues caused no necrotic local lesions. These results show that modifications of the coat protein gene affect its ability to induce the hypersensitive response in N' plants.