Post-transcriptional Regulation of Host Genes Involved with Symptom Expression in Potyviral Infections
Authors: Whitham Steven A. , Gal-On Amit , Gaba Victor 
Published: December 2021

Understanding how RNA viruses cause disease symptoms in their hosts is expected to provide information that can be exploited to enhance modern agriculture. The helper component-proteinase (HC-Pro) protein of potyviruses has been implicated in symptom development. Previously, we demonstrated that symptom expression is associated with binding of duplex small-interfering-RNA (duplex-siRNA) to a highly conserved FRNK amino acid motif in the HC-Pro of Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV). This binding activity also alters host microRNA (miRNA) profiles. In Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), which infects the model plant Arabidopsis, mutation of the FRNK motif to FINK was lethal providing further indication of the importance of this motif to HC-Pro function. In this continuation project, our goal was to further investigate how ZYMV and TuMV cause the mis-expression of genes in cucurbits and Arabidopsis, respectively, and to correlate altered gene expression with disease symptoms. Objective 1 was to examine the roles of aromatic and positively charged residues F164RNH and K215RLF adjacent to FR180NK in small RNA binding. Objective 2 was to determine the target genes of the miRNAs which change during HC-Pro expression in infected tissues and transgenic cucumber. Objective 3 was to characterize RNA silencing mechanisms underlying differential expression of host genes. Objective 4 was to analyze the function of miRNA target genes and differentially expressed genes in potyvirus-infected tissues.   We found that the charged K/R amino acid residues in the FKNH and KRLF motifs are essential for virus viability. Replacement of K to I in FKNH disrupted duplex-siRNA binding and virus infectivity, while in KRLF mutants duplex-siRNA binding was maintained and virus infectivity was limited: symptomless following a recovery phenomenon. These findings expanded the duplex-siRNA binding activity of HC-Pro to include the adjacent FRNK and FRNH sites. ZYMV causes many squash miRNAs to hyper-accumulate such as miR166, miR390, mir168, and many others. Screening of mir target genes showed that only INCURVATA-4 and PHAVOLUTA were significantly upregulated following ZYMVFRNK infection. Supporting this finding, we found similar developmental symptoms in transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing P1-HC-Pro of a range of potyviruses to those observed in miR166 mutants. We characterized increased transcription of AGO1 in response to infection with both ZYMV strains. Differences in viral siRNA profiles and accumulation between mild and severe virus infections were characterized by Illumina sequencing, probably due to the differences in HC-Pro binding activity. We determined that the TuMV FINK mutant could accumulate and cause symptoms in dcl2 dcl4 or dcl2 dcl3 dcl4 mutants similar to TuMV FRNK in wild type Arabidopsis plants. These dcl mutant plants are defective in antiviral defenses, and the results show that factors other than HC-ProFRNK motif can induce symptoms in virus-infected plants.   As a result of this work, we have a better understanding of the FRNK and FKNH amino acid motifs of HC-Pro and their contributions to the duplex-siRNA binding functions. We have identified plant genes that potentially contribute to infectivity and symptoms of virus infected plants when they are mis-expressed during potyviral infections. The results establish that there are multiple underlying molecular mechanisms that lead viral pathogenicity, some dependent on HC-Pro. The potential benefits include the development of novel strategies for controlling diseases caused by viruses, methods to ensure stable expression of transgenes in genetically improved crops, and improved potyvirus vectors for expression of proteins or peptides in plants.