Weligodage Heshani De Silva, Jin Gan, Kaur Maninderjeet, Rock Christopher D, Sunitha Sukumaran
Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA.
Heliyon. 2023 Mar 17;9(3):e14528. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14528. eCollection 2023 Mar.
Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) is the causative agent of grapevine red blotch disease (GRBD) which is one of the major threats faced by grapevine industry in the United States Since its initial identification in 2011, the disease has rapidly spread in the major US grape-growing regions of the Pacific Northwest, causing major economic impacts. Geminiviruses, the largest family of plant viruses, can induce and be targeted by host post-transcriptional gene-silencing (PTGS) anti-viral mechanisms. As a counter-defense mechanism, viruses have evolved viral silencing suppressor proteins to combat PTGS mechanisms and establish a successful infection in host plants. Here we provide characterization of two ORFs of GRBV, C2 and V2 as viral silencing suppressors. In line 16c GFP marker plants, synergism or additive effects of C2 and V2 suppressors was observed at the mRNA level when they are expressed together transiently. Additionally, we showed there is no evidence by yeast two-hybrid of self-interaction (dimerization) of C2 or V2 proteins, and no evidence of physical interaction between these two suppressors.
葡萄藤红斑点病毒（GRBV）是葡萄藤红斑点病（GRBD）的病原体，该病是美国葡萄产业面临的主要威胁之一。自2011年首次发现以来，该病已在美国太平洋西北部的主要葡萄种植区迅速蔓延，造成了重大经济影响。双生病毒是最大的植物病毒家族，可诱导宿主转录后基因沉默（PTGS）抗病毒机制并成为其作用靶点。作为一种反击防御机制，病毒进化出了病毒沉默抑制蛋白来对抗PTGS机制，并在宿主植物中成功建立感染。在此，我们对GRBV的两个开放阅读框C2和V2作为病毒沉默抑制子进行了表征。在16c GFP标记植物品系中，当C2和V2抑制子一起瞬时表达时，在mRNA水平上观察到了协同或累加效应。此外，我们通过酵母双杂交表明，没有证据表明C2或V2蛋白存在自相互作用（二聚化），也没有证据表明这两种抑制子之间存在物理相互作用。
