Plant cell-directed control of virion sense gene expression in wheat dwarf virus. (1/230)

We have used particle bombardment (biolistics) to deliver replication-competent wheat dwarf virus (WDV)-based constructs, carrying reporter gene sequences fused to the virion sense promoter (Pv) or the CaMV 35S promoter, to suspension culture cells and immature zygotic embryos of wheat. While the replication of WDV double-stranded DNA forms (replicons) was equivalent between wheat suspension culture cells and embryos, GUS reporter gene activity was 20-40 times higher in the embryo cultures. Maximum expression of WDV replicons occurred in the embryonic axis tissue of wheat embryos but their expression in suspension cells was compromised, compared with transiently maintained input plasmid DNA containing the same sequences. From these studies, we propose that WDV replicons are subject to a host cell-controlled competency for virion sense transcription. The term competency is used to distinguish between the phenomenon described here and control of gene expression by specific transcription factors. Control of competency is independent of Pv, the replacement 35S promoter and of the complementary sense control of virion sense expression involving specific sequences in Pv. We propose that factors controlling the competency for replicon expression may be present in cells which, as well as maintaining high rates of DNA synthesis, are totipotent. Cell type control of active chromatin, methylation of specific sequences in WDV minichromosomes and/or interaction of virus-encoded proteins with specific host factors are considered as possible mechanisms.  (+info)

Altered patterns of gene expression in Arabidopsis elicited by cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) infection and by a CaMV gene VI transgene. (2/230)

Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) gene VI protein (P6) is an important determinant of symptom expression. Differential display polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify changes in gene expression in Arabidopsis elicited by a P6 transgene that causes a symptomatic phenotype. We used slot blot hybridization to measure the abundance of mRNAs complementary to 66 candidate PCR products in transgenic, CaMV-infected, and uninfected Arabidopsis plants. CaMV-infected and P6 transgenic plants showed broadly similar changes in abundance of mRNA species. In P6 transgenic plants we detected 18 PCR products that showed unambiguous changes in abundance plus another 15 that showed more limited changes (approximately twofold). CaMV-infected plants showed 17 unambiguous and 13 limited changes. Down-regulated species include those encoding a novel, phenol-like sulfotransferase, and a glycine-rich, RNA-binding protein. Up-regulated species included ones encoding an myb protein, glycine-rich and stress-inducible proteins, and a member of a previously unreported gene family. CaMV infection causes alterations in expression of many Arabidopsis genes. Transgene-mediated expression of P6 mimics virus infection in its effect on host gene expression, providing a potential mechanism for this process.  (+info)

The Arabidopsis dwarf mutant shi exhibits reduced gibberellin responses conferred by overexpression of a new putative zinc finger protein. (3/230)

shi (for short internodes), a semidominant dwarfing mutation of Arabidopsis caused by a transposon insertion, confers a phenotype typical of mutants defective in the biosynthesis of gibberellin (GA). However, the application of GA does not correct the dwarf phenotype of shi plants, suggesting that shi is defective in the perception of or in the response to GA. In agreement with this observation, the level of active GAs was elevated in shi plants, which is the result expected when feedback control of GA biosynthesis is reduced. Cloning of the SHI gene revealed that in shi, the transposon is inserted into the untranslated leader so that a cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter in the transposon reads out toward the SHI open reading frame. This result, together with mRNA analysis, suggests that the phenotype of the shi mutant is a result of overexpression of the SHI open reading frame. The predicted amino acid sequence of SHI has acidic and glutamine-rich stretches and shows sequence similarity over a putative zinc finger region to three presumptive Arabidopsis proteins. This suggests that SHI may act as a negative regulator of GA responses through transcriptional control.  (+info)

Identification of inhibitory mutants of Cauliflower mosaic virus movement protein function after expression in insect cells. (4/230)

Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) encodes a movement protein (MP) which forms tubules in vivo and mediates the translocation of virus particles through plasmodesmata. The relationship between CaMV MP structure and function, in isolation from the complete virus infection, was studied by using MP expression in insect cells. The study allowed the MP domains necessary for tubule formation to be identified and potential MP-MP interactions to be investigated by using double infections with recombinant baculoviruses. Two MP domains which interfered with the ability of the wild-type MP to form tubules were identified. These mutant domains appeared to act as competitive, rather than dominant negative, inhibitors.  (+info)

A short open reading frame terminating in front of a stable hairpin is the conserved feature in pregenomic RNA leaders of plant pararetroviruses. (5/230)

In plant pararetroviruses, pregenomic RNA (pgRNA) directs synthesis of circular double-stranded viral DNA and serves as a polycistronic mRNA. By computer-aided analysis, the 14 plant pararetroviruses sequenced so far were compared with respect to structural organization of their pgRNA 5'-leader. The results revealed that the pgRNA of all these viruses carries a long leader sequence containing several short ORFs and having the potential to form a large stem-loop structure; both features are known to be inhibitory for downstream translation. Formation of the structure brings the first long ORF into the close spatial vicinity of a 5'-proximal short ORF that terminates 5 to 10 nt upstream of the stable structural element. The first long ORF on the pgRNA is translated by a ribosome shunt mechanism discovered in cauliflower mosaic (CaMV) and rice tungro bacilliform viruses, representing the two major groups of plant pararetroviruses. Both the short ORF and the structure have been implicated in the shunt process for CaMV pgRNA translation. The conservation of these elements among all plant pararetroviruses suggests conservation of the ribosome shunt mechanism. For some of the less well-studied viruses, the localization of the conserved elements also allowed predictions of the pgRNA promoter region and the translation start site of the first long ORF.  (+info)

A 69 bp fragment in the pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase promoter of Arabidopsis thaliana activates minimal CaMV 35S promoter in a tissue-specific manner. (6/230)

The Arabidopsis thaliana gene that encodes pyrroline-5-carboxylate reductase (At-P5R), the last enzyme in proline biosynthesis in A. thaliana, is developmentally regulated and is highly expressed in cells that divide rapidly or undergo changes in osmotic potential. A 69 bp region (P69; -120 to -51) has previously been identified in a 5' deletion analysis of the At-P5R promoter to be necessary for the basal expression. Here, the essential role of P69 for tissue-specific expression of At-P5R is demonstrated by loss- and gain-of-function experiments.  (+info)

A stable hairpin preceded by a short open reading frame promotes nonlinear ribosome migration on a synthetic mRNA leader. (7/230)

The regulation of cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) pregenomic 35S RNA translation occurs via nonlinear ribosome migration (ribosome shunt) and is mediated by an elongated hairpin structure in the leader. The replacement of the viral leader by a series of short, low-energy stems in either orientation supports efficient ribosomal shunting, showing that the stem per se, and not its sequence, is recognized by the translation machinery. The requirement for cis-acting sequences from the unstructured terminal regions of the viral leader was analyzed: the 5'-terminal polypyrimidine stretch and the short upstream open reading frame (uORF) A stimulate translation, whereas the 3'-flanking region seems not to be essential. Based on these results, an artificial leader was designed with a stable stem flanked by unstructured sequences derived from parts of the 5'- and 3'-proximal regions of the CaMV 35S RNA leader. This artificial leader is shunt-competent in translation assays in vivo and in vitro, indicating that a low-energy stem, broadly used as a device to successfully interfere with ribosome scanning, can efficiently support translation, if preceded by a short uORF. The synthetic 140-nt leader can functionally replace the CaMV 35S RNA 600-nt leader, thus implicating the universal role that nonlinear ribosome scanning could play in translation initiation in eukaryotes.  (+info)

Antisense inhibition of tomato fruit sucrose synthase decreases fruit setting and the sucrose unloading capacity of young fruit. (8/230)

The role of sucrose synthase (SuSy) in tomato fruit was studied in transgenic tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) plants expressing an antisense fragment of fruit-specific SuSy RNA (TOMSSF) under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Constitutive expression of the antisense RNA markedly inhibited SuSy activity in flowers and fruit pericarp tissues. However, inhibition was only slight in the endosperm and was undetectable in the embryo, shoot, petiole, and leaf tissues. The activity of sucrose phosphate synthase decreased in parallel with that of SuSy, but acid invertase activity did not increase in response to the reduced SuSy activity. The only effect on the carbohydrate content of young fruit was a slight reduction in starch accumulation. The in vitro sucrose import capacity of fruits was not reduced by SuSy inhibition at 23 days after anthesis, and the rate of starch synthesized from the imported sucrose was not lessened even when SuSy activity was decreased by 98%. However, the sucrose unloading capacity of 7-day-old fruit was substantially decreased in lines with low SuSy activity. In addition, the SuSy antisense fruit from the first week of flowering had a slower growth rate. A reduced fruit set, leading to markedly less fruit per plant at maturity, was observed for the plants with the least SuSy activity. These results suggest that SuSy participates in the control of sucrose import capacity of young tomato fruit, which is a determinant for fruit set and development.  (+info)

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