Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (2010) 23, 1486-1497

Kathryn M. Wright, Graham H. Cowan, Nina I. Lukhovitskaya, Jens Tilsner, Alison G. Roberts, Eugene I. Savenkov and Lesley Torrance (2010)
The N-terminal domain of PMTV TGB1 movement protein is required for nucleolar localization, microtubule association, and long-distance movement
Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions 23 (11), 1486-1497
Abstract: The triple-gene-block (TGB)1 protein of Potato mop-top virus (PMTV) was fused to fluorescent proteins and expressed in epidermal cells of Nicotiana benthamiana under the control of the 35S promoter. TGB1 fluorescence was observed in the cytoplasm, nucleus, and nucleolus and occasionally associated with microtubules. When expressed from a modified virus (PMTV.YFP-TGB1) which formed local lesions but was not competent for systemic movement, yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)-TGB1 labeled plasmodesmata in cells at the leading edge of the lesion and plasmodesmata, microtubules, nuclei, and nucleoli in cells immediately behind the leading edge. Deletion of 84 amino acids from the N-terminus of unlabeled TGB1 within the PMTV genome abolished movement of viral RNA to noninoculated leaves. When the same deletion was introduced into PMTV.YFP-TGB1, labeling of microtubules and nucleoli was abolished. The N-terminal 84 amino acids of TGB1 were fused to green fluorescent protein (GFP) and expressed in epidermal cells where GFP localized strongly to the nucleolus (not seen with unfused GFP), indicating that these amino acids contain a nucleolar localization signal; the fusion protein did not label microtubules. This is the first report of nucleolar and microtubule association of a TGB movement protein. The results suggest that PMTV TGB1 requires interaction with nuclear components and, possibly, microtubules for long-distance movement of viral RNA.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Lesley Torrance, Eugene I. Savenkov

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
molecular biology - genes

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Potato mop-top virus